Woman accused of killing girls with poison raspberries pulled from Thames
A fugitive accused of killing two schoolgirls with poisoned chocolate-covered raspberries was pulled alive from the River Thames.
Zulma Guzman Castro was rescued from the water close to Battersea Bridge, west London, on Tuesday morning.
The businesswoman is alleged to have killed two teenagers in Colombia by spiking raspberries with a colourless and odourless heavy metal called thallium.
It was said to be an ‘act of vengeance’ after she had a secret affair with the father of one of the victims.
Ines de Bedout, 14, and close friend Emilia Forero, 13, died in hospital days after consuming the chocolate berries.
Castro, who denies killing the teenagers, fled Colombia shortly after.
An Interpol Red Notice was issued against her earlier this month, with authorities saying she visited Brazil, Spain and the UK.
It’s understood that the alleged double killer arrived in Britain on November 11 and the National Crime Agency were actively hunting her.
A Met Police spokesman told The Sun: ‘Police were called at 6.45am on Tuesday, 16 December to reports of a woman in distress on Battersea Bridge.
‘The Met’s Marine Policing Unit recovered a woman in her 50s from the water at 7.14am and she was taken to hospital, where her injuries have since been deemed not life-threatening or life-changing.’
The girls’ deaths sparked desperate social media posts from Emilia’s father Pedro Forero.
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Speaking before it emerged Colombian prosecutors had a suspect, he said: ‘Fourteen years ago, a life of hopes, joys and dreams began; a life that filled a family, a father and a mother.
‘But it wasn’t just the joy of someone else’s life; it was the beginning of the life of an excellent human being who had dreams, hopes and goals.
‘As a father, it is incomprehensible to think that someone was capable of taking this away.
‘She did not just take away my dreams, my desires and my prospects in life as a father; she did not just take away my opportunity to be a father-in-law, grandfather and everything else one can be as a parent.
‘She took away my daughter’s opportunity to be a girlfriend, a professional, a wife, a mother and a daughter.’
The two teenagers reportedly ate the doomed dessert after school in an apartment in Bogota.
They died four days later, according to Colombian media.
Thallium is typically used in the manufacturing of electronics, optical lenses, semiconductors, alloys and radiation detection equipment.
Prosecutors claim Castro, who was reportedly having an affair with Ines’ father Juan de Bedout, used a courier to deliver the deadly dessert.
Local media claim the runaway suspect might have poisoned the children to take revenge on her former lover.
Another teenage girl who ate the poisoned raspberries, along with the 21-year-old brother of one of the victims, were hospitalised following the incident seven months ago.
Both survived, but the girl is said to have suffered lasting health problems.
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