Personally I definitely think that he used the Strychnine to help him with that walk up the hill.
This is a fascinating thing to hear you say Jeremy. It is very hard to reconcile the idea that David's death was due solely to strychnine poisoning after reading around on its effects. A lethal dose should have left his body in a contorted position, but on the contrary, he was described as lying peacefully.
One small discrepancy I have noticed on rewatching the documentary: the "ranger" who attended the call to David's body reports that his arms were by his side, whereas the hiker who actually discovered him says that the arms were crossed across the chest. Yet another puzzle....
But back to the strychnine. It is eye-opening to read about the history of recreational use of strychnine. An Olympic weightlifter was disqualified from the 2016 Olympics for using strychnine as a performance enhancing drug!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-08-...or-doping-with-rat-poison/7765698?pfmredir=sm
H.G. Wells even mentions the use of strychnine in The Invisible Man. Here is the passage:
"[FONT="]"All I could think clearly was that the thing had to be carried through; the fixed idea still ruled me. And soon, for the money I had was almost exhausted. I looked about me at the hillside, with children playing and girls watching them, and tried to think of all the fantastic advantages an invisible man would have in the world. After a time I crawled home, took some food and a strong dose of strychnine, and went to sleep in my clothes on my unmade bed. Strychnine is a grand tonic, Kemp, to take the flabbiness out of a man."[/FONT][FONT="]"It's the devil," said Kemp. "It's the palaeolithic in a bottle."[/FONT][FONT="]"I awoke vastly invigorated and rather irritable. You know?""
The idea that David used strychnine "recreationally" therefore, whilst seemingly very unusual, is not at all unprecedented. It would make sense if this was the case that he himself brought the strychnine into the UK in his thyroid medicine bottle. But why then do the detectives in the documentary ask whether he could have taken it without realising? The thyroid bottle is clearly labelled as containing tablets, whereas the strychnine is very unlikely to be in tablet form, and even if it was, it would not have been the same size and shape. So it is impossible to imagine that someone had swapped the contents and David had taken them without realising. This consideration, in conjunction with the peaceful state of the body seems much more compatible with the idea of taking the strychnine recreationally, so to speak.
So why then did the autopsy conclude that he died from the strychnine poisoning? Surely the amount of strychnine in his system must have been minute if it was taken to enhance his ability to walk up the hill. Surely if he died from a combination of a very difficult walk and climb combined with the strychnine then it must have been something like a heart attack which killed him, rather than an overdose. Again, how could this not have been sorted out in the autopsy?
On second watching of the documentary, I am even more puzzled. Basic questions seem to go unanswered. One can read on the whiteboard about the credit card being used to pay for the flight, and how this needs to be investigated, and yet, Jeremy says in his reply above that this needs to be looked into, seeming to suggest that this has not been done.
The more I think about this tragic case, and forgive me, but it's hard not to, the more puzzling it all becomes.
Again, Jeremy, I offer these thoughts respectfully, and if at any time I am crossing an invisible line, please do not hesitate to say so. Otherwise, as you have asked for questions, I hope you won't mind me offering these observations and queries, and I remain very appreciative for any comments you can make.[/FONT]