A man has been jailed for a year after he tried to poison a colleague with a chemical he'd found out about on a TV show.
Thomas Lynch smeared toxic substance thallium on his colleague's car door handle using a chamois leather.
Cork Circuit Criminal court heard how Lynch and another employee at Iron Mountain data management company - Owen Sheehan - had been involved in a disagreement at work.
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Lynch had watched a murder case on a TV show about unsolved crimes in which the killer had used the substance. In extreme cases it can be fatal - but generally only when swallowed or ingested.
He'd revealed his plan to other employees, telling them he planned to put a liquid on Mr Sheehans's car that would kill him within 24 hours.
Detective Garda Cormac Ryan told the court that Mr Lynch had put a quantity of the substance on the car handle - although the amount was unknown.
He was seen approaching the car wearing gloves and holding a cloth before being reported by another employee to senior staff.
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Mr Sheehan told the court he tried to wash it off.
Gardai were called and searched his home, where Lynch lives alone. Nothing was found at the property, although when Lynch was arrested he told them he had hidden it in a hole in the trunk of a tree in Ballinaclash Woods, 10 minutes from his home.
It was wrapped in cotton wool and sent to forensics and confirmed to be thallium.
Mr Lynch told police he got a vial of it from Italy for around €70 (approx £60) after he watched the murder documentary.
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The disagreement had reportedly arisen from a 'delusion' that Lynch had thinking that Mr Sheehan had somehow interfered with a truck pallet and his work desk.
Mr Sheehan had worked at the company for 14 years, with Lynch there for most of that time.
In his victim impact statement, Mr Sheehan said: "I had always been nice to him in the past and had obliged him in many ways.
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"On the day this incident occurred I had been informed by staff that the accused had placed a substance on the door handle of my car. I always sat in my car to have my lunch alone. When this incident had come to my supervisor and manager's attention, I was told to go and wash my car door.
"When I realised the nature of the toxic substance that the accused had procured and that it could have caused death, it really shook me. It terrifies me."
Because of his garda co-operation, Mr Lynch was jailed for two years, with the last 12 months of the sentence adjourned.
He will be on probation for three years after his release from custody. He has lost his job and was ordered not to have any contact at all with Mr Sheehan.
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Having got the nicknames 'The Poisoner's Poison' and 'Inheritance Powder', thallium has been used over the years in many murder cases, with a lot of them remaining unsolved.
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