The poisoner: the life and crimes of Victorian England's most notorious doctor

In 1856 Dr William Palmer was convicted of poisoning his best friend with strychnine and was suspected of committing at least a dozen other murders. One of the last people to be publicly hanged in Britain, he was described by Charles Dickens as ‘the greatest villain who ever stood trial at the Old Baileyâ€. But in this fresh examination of the evidence, journalist Stephen Bates considers Palmerâ€s motivation and asks whether he really was a prolific and ruthless serial killer.