Witchcraft bean was fed to ‘Adam’ before his murder

The African boy whose dismembered torso was found in the Thames two years ago was fed a poisonous bean used in witchcraft rituals before he was murdered, police disclosed yesterday.

The unidentified boy, named Adam by Metropolitan Police detectives, is believed to have been the victim of a ritual killing after being brought from his native Nigeria to Britain.

A substance found in the boy’s lower intestine was identified by an expert at Kew Gardens in London as the highly toxic calabar bean, from West Africa.

Police believe a preparation of the calabar bean – which can be fatal if swallowed, or cause paralysis in tiny doses – may have been used to subdue the boy, by slow paralysis, before his throat was cut. It was administered at least 24 hours before his death.

It also emerged yesterday that the murder squad, which has spent hundreds of thousands of pounds investigating the boy’s death, has prepared its first file of evidence in the case for the Crown Prosecution Service.

Scotland Yard sources played down suggestions that charges were close but officers have uncovered what they believe is cogent circumstantial evidence.

They have previously arrested a woman in Glasgow – who has since returned to Nigeria – and a man being held by police in Dublin. The pair, who are husband and wife, are not biologically related to Adam, it is understood.

The man in Dublin has been sentenced in his absence in Germany for trafficking offences and is wanted for extradition by the Germans.

A pair of child’s shorts on the headless and limbless torso of Adam, who was probably aged between four and six, also came from Germany.

Charges which might be brought in any trial include murder, conspiracy to murder and trafficking offences.

It also emerged yesterday that the Government’s leading law officer, the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, QC, wants to lead the prosecution team in any trial arising from the Adam investigation.

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