In Britain, the summer of 2023 was a non-stop parade of indignity. A BBC presenter was exposed for possessing indecent images of children; a former Prime Minister was found guilty of misleading Parliament; a nurse was convicted of murdering seven babies. The front pages wrote themselves.
Meanwhile, in north Birmingham, away from the public eye, a silent killer was on the loose.
The first victim, a 38-year-old labourer, was found on 7 June after collapsing at home. The second was discovered a week later; the third and fourth, the week after that. By July, the deaths had become an almost daily occurrence. Eight bodies were found over the course of just 10 days — including two on the same evening, in the same building.
By the end of August, the death toll had risen to 21. Most of the victims had died in hostels or Houses of Multiple Occupation (HMOs). Each, inquests would later reveal, had been poisoned. The killer in question: a mysterious drug called a nitazene, a synthetic opioid up to 40 times more potent than fentanyl. “It’s like a little bomb going off in your brain,” says one user who survived.
Become a free member to read this article.