Mystery deepens over why grandfather Douglas Thrift consumed a fatal dose of hard-to-find poison at his Denham NSW home

How a grandfather ingested a fatal dose of the hard-to-obtain poison strychnine will remain a mystery after a coroner investigated his death.

Douglas Thrift, 71, was found unconscious at his rural home in Denham, in the NSW Hunter region, on the afternoon of December 1, 2018, after returning from a round of golf.

The ‘very unusual’ discovery of strychnine in his system at the time of death led to a major police investigation.

That study could not determine whether the poison was consumed voluntarily or administered by a third party.

An inquest in May examined factors including Mr Thrift’s relationship with his wife and three sons, and his long struggle with alcohol.

Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes concluded that it was not possible to determine the manner or circumstances of Mr Thrift’s death, other than that the cause was strychnine toxicity.

“The circumstances surrounding Mr. Thrift’s death and how he ingested strychnine remain unclear,” she said in the findings released Wednesday.

The police were initially unable to locate the poison on his property and more than four years later, officers carrying out a search under corona warrant found a dusty bottle containing the poison in a shed near his home.

Examination of the bottle found Mr. Thrift’s DNA on the mouth and rim, but attempts to obtain a viable fingerprint were unsuccessful.

“Given the proximity of the bottle, the fact that strychnine is so otherwise unavailable, and the fact that Mr. Thrift’s DNA is on the rim and mouth of the bottle, I am satisfied that on the balance of probabilities that this bottle is the source of the strychnine (he) swallowed,” Ms Forbes said.

“The question remains whether he deliberately took the strychnine to end his life.”

The inquest heard that Mr Thrift suffered from depression and had previously attempted suicide in 1984 and 2009.

It was believed that both incidents were related to his drinking and its effect on his relationships.

“This history is significant because this previous attempt occurred in the context of drunkenness, fear of losing his wife due to his drinking, and was impulsive,” the coroner said.

A major investigation was launched after Mr Thrift was found unconscious at his home in Denham, NSW, on December 1, 2018, and high levels of the poison were found in his system.

In an interview with police, Mrs. Thrift told officers that when her husband returned from golfing, she “could smell grog like him.”

“I said something to him about drinking,” she told investigators.

“He leaned over and held my face and said, ‘I’m here for a good time, not a long time,’ and then lay down.”

While it was possible that Thrift had committed suicide while under the influence of alcohol, the coroner said there were also a number of factors that did not support this conclusion.

These included that he had not left a note or given any indication that he was despondent and that he had made plans for the future, including purchasing $100,000 worth of farming equipment.

The coroner refrained from commenting on other ways Thrift could have consumed the poison due to the possibility that new evidence might come to light in the future.

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