Woman used “queen of poisons” to kill her lover

LONDON, (Reuters) – A British woman was found guilty  of killing her lover by poisoning his curry because she could  not bear the thought of him marrying a younger rival.

Lakhvinder Cheema, 39, died hours after eating a leftover  curry which had been in the fridge of his home in west London  while his fiancee Gurjeet Choongh, 21, was violently ill.

The Old Bailey heard Lakhvir Singh, 45, had poisoned the  food with Indian aconite.

Aconite, known as the Queen of Poisons, is one of the most  deadly poisons but this was the first case in England since  1882, the Press Association reported.

Singh, also from west London, was found guilty at the Old  Bailey of murdering Cheema in January last year and causing  grievous bodily harm with intent to Choongh. She was found not  guilty of attempting to murder Choongh.

After her arrest, Singh, a mother of three, tried to blame  her brother-in-law for the death. But a lodger at the house saw  her take a container with the curry out of the fridge earlier in  the day, the court heard.

“Perhaps jealousy, anger and revenge all playing their part,  Lakhvir Singh decided to poison them using an extremely toxic  and deadly poison,” said prosecutor Edward Brown.