Public school porter cleared of poisoning the soup

Relief: Maxwell Cook slumped into his seat when the verdict was announced
12 April 2012

A kitchen porter at a public school was today cleared of pouring poison into the pupils' soup.

Maxwell Cook, 58, had been accused of deliberately emptying bleach into the carrot and coriander soup at £27,000-a-year Stowe.

About 100 pupils and staff could have eaten the soup at the Buckinghamshire school in March last year if it had been served, the court was told.

But the presence of the noxious substance was detected during a routine tasting and no one was hurt.

Today, after two-and-half hours' of deliberations, a jury at Aylesbury crown court found Cook not guilty of attempting to administer poison with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.

As the verdict was read out a single cry of "yes" could be heard from the public gallery and Cook slumped in his seat.

Cook, of Brackley, Northamptonshire, said he had walked through the kitchen carrying cleaning products for the drains but there was "no way" he could have poured the substance into the pots.

In his police interview, read out during the trial, he said: "I walked past the stoves where there were two pots, with a container of bleach in my hand, and glanced down to see what was on the menu that night."

During the trial the court heard from trainee chef Louise Samples, 21, who claimed she had seen Cook pouring the cleaning product into the soup but was so shocked she did not tell anyone. Past pupils at the school include Sir Richard Branson and George Melly.

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