THE Agutters seemed a perfectly ordinary couple in the East Lothian
village of Athelstaneford. Locals thought he was a doctor, a notion he
did nothing to dispel, although he is a doctor of philosophy rather than
a medical practitioner.
Alex Agutter 39, is also a PhD. She taught Scots in the
English-language department of Edinburgh University before leaving in
1988.
Paul Agutter 48, had been married before. His married his first wife
Jennifer in 1970 and, after a fairly stormy relationship, they divorced
five years later.
Born in Glossop, Derbyshire, Paul Agutter first arrived in Edinburgh
in 1964 to study medicine, but he switched courses after two years. He
gained a first class BSc in 1968 and worked as demonstrator in
biochemistry at Edinburgh University between 1971 and 1974 during which
time he gained a PhD in molecular biology.
Paul and Alex were married in 1976 and he joined the staff of Napier
College as a lecturer the following year. Promotion followed as it
changed first into a polytechnic and then into a university. His
position at the time of his arrest was reader in cell biology, carrying
a salary of more than #31,000.
Few doubted the couple's intellectual glitter. Impromptu limericks and
clever puns, sometimes self-mocking, were features of the banter around
their dinner table at Kilduff Lodge. In 1983 they co-wrote a paper
entiled Aspects of Fuzziness in the Semantics and Pragmatics of English.
Less clear was the emotional integrity of the marriage. Over the last
five years they continued to live under the same roof while both had
affairs with other partners. There were deeper undercurrents of emotive
turmoil beneath this outwardly civilised arrangement.
Alex has a direct manner and friends also spoke of a manic side to
Paul Agutter.
In the months leading to the poisoning, he was said to have been
suffering from depression linked to financial pressures of maintaining
the family home and a relationship he had developed with a former
student, Carole Bonsall.
At the police press conference after discovery of the bottles,
Geoffrey Sharwood-Smith was clear of what he thought of the poisoner:
''It was the work an evil and twisted mind.''
Interviewed by The Herald later that day, Agutter played the part of
victim well, but some of his comments did not ring wholly true. He knew
then that the police had figured out atropine had been used.
''It has been very stressful, quite ghastly, but I am becoming more
hopeful.''
Asked what he thought of the person who did it, he was more flustered:
''I really cannot imagine. I simply cannot understand that question at
all because it is beyond me to imagine what type of person could do
this.''
Agutter also seemed intrigued to learn that the other victims had been
in a doctor's family and, the following week before his arrest, he made
contact with the Sharwood-Smiths.
''To us at the time, this was just another family which had been
poisoned,'' recalls Geoffrey Sharwood-Smith. ''He told us he was
medically qualified and not practising. That was lie. He also said this
to other people. ''He appeared to know how much atropine could go into
tonic water before it could be detected by taste.
''I was astonished by this. Even though he was a biochemist, it was an
odd thing to know. He definitely had expert knowledge about atropine and
seemed to want to show it off.''
While on remand in Saughton Prison, Agutter was visited by his wife,
who was still apparently convinced of his innocence.
Two days after his arrest, he also wrote an extraordinary letter to
Geoffrey Sharwood-Smith, insisting that it was the work of a supermarket
poisoner, and expressing hope that he would be caught soon, ''hopefully
without any fatalities''.
Agutter said he had faith in the judicial system and was confident he
would not be convicted. He emphasised his liking and respect for his
wife, but said he loved Carole and he definitely wanted to marry her.
But for some people who knew Agutter, his conviction came as no
surprise.
''I could believe he cooked this up simply to see if he could get away
with it,'' said one former acquaintance. ''He was someone who took pride
in his cunning.''
Agutter's conviction means that life for the Sharwood-Smiths and other
victims can now return to normal. ''It was something of a miracle that
has no-one was killed. But for some extraordinary chances, he could have
got away with it,'' says Dr Sharwood-Smith. ''It was so clever and
convenient. But he was just too clever.''
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