Woman accused of killing teens with poisoned raspberries found from London river

A woman accused of poisoning two teenage girls with chocolate covered raspberries has been rescued from the River Thames.

Zulma Guzman Castro was pulled from the water near Battersea Bridge shortly after 7am on Tuesday after reports of a woman in distress.

The Metropolitan Police said officers from its Marine Policing Unit rescued a woman in her 50s and took her to hospital, where her injuries were later described as not life-threatening.

Castro is wanted by Colombian authorities over the deaths of two minors Ines de Bedout and Emilia Forero, who died in April after eating poisoned chocolate raspberries in Bogota. Interpol has issued a red notice for her arrest, and she is expected to be deported to Colombia after recovery.

According to prosecutors, the chocolates were injected with thallium which is a highly toxic and odourless heavy metal. The girls collapsed shortly after eating the gift at an apartment belonging to Ines’s father, Juan de Bedout. Both were rushed to hospital but died four days later.

Local reports in Colombia suggest Castro may have targeted the girls as an act of revenge following a failed affair with the father of one of them.

In a statement, the police said: “Police were called at 06:45hrs on December 16 to reports of a woman in distress on Battersea Bridge. The Met’s Marine Policing Unit recovered a woman from the water at 07:14hrs.”