TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taipei police are investigating the cause of the sudden death of a British man whose widow dated an Australian student sickened by rat poison.

Police are investigating allegations that the woman suspected of poisoning the student also fatally poisoned her British husband months before meeting the Australian youth. Her deceased husband's brother came to Taiwan to demand that police investigate whether the death of his brother and the student's sickness were caused by the same woman's actions. 

Alex Shorey, a 24-year-old exchange student from Australia studying at Tamkang University, made headlines last April when he was reported to be in critical condition due to ingesting the rodenticide “superwarfarin.” His girlfriend, 45-year-old Yang (楊), admitted to putting rat poison in juice, but she claimed she had planned to drink it and said Shorey drank it accidentally.

Taipei City Police suspected Yang may have administered the rat poison to prevent Shorey from returning to Australia. In February, she was charged with causing bodily harm (重傷害罪), and the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office has confirmed receiving the case for an ongoing investigation.

In January, the brother of the deceased U.K. national, who goes by the pseudonym “David,” came to Taiwan to investigate the unexplained and sudden death of his sibling, reported CNA. With the assistance of concerned citizens, David filed a report with the Taipei City Police Department. 

David told police that his brother had been married to the Taiwanese woman for more than 10 years and had been living in Taiwan in recent years. However, David said that his family in the U.K. were unable to contact him in early 2023 and that when asked, his widow said he had died from a heart attack.

David felt that he had not been given an adequate explanation about the cause of his brother's death. As the widow had failed to provide further information, David traveled to Taiwan one year later for answers. 

Using information provided by David, police confirmed that his brother was married to Yang. They contacted prosecutors and found that David's brother had passed away early last year. 

Police discovered that before the man's death, the symptoms he reported were similar to those of the Australian student after he ingested superwarfarin, indicating a possible connection between the two cases. 

Recently, the Taipei District Prosecutors Office instructed the Zhongshan Precinct of the Taipei City Police Department to investigate the man's death. In early May, police searched Yang's residence where they found empty bottles of rat poison and her husband's urn, which was placed on the floor, reported FTV News. 

Investigators are unable to test the man's body for signs of rat poison because Yang had her husband's remains cremated. She reportedly had claimed the body before a forensic examination could be conducted, and the death certificate lists “heart disease.”