US court convicts man for posting cyanide to suicidal Briton

A man in the US charged with posting cyanide to a suicidal man in England has been found guilty by a federal jury.

Sidney Kilmartin, from Windham, Maine, was found guilty on Tuesday of mailing injurious articles resulting in death and witness tampering.

He had denied those charges but had pleaded guilty to mail fraud and wire fraud.

Investigators in Bangor say Kilmartin advertised and mailed a substance he said was cyanide to several suicidal people. The substance was really Epsom salt.

Authorities say he later sent the real thing to Andrew Denton, in Hull, who used it to kill himself.

Investigators say Kilmartin, 54, wanted to prevent Denton from going to authorities about his fraud.

An affidavit by a US postal inspector says Kilmartin obtained cyanide by posing as a jeweller to persuade a California distributor to ship him 100 grams of it.