BRITAIN: The Poisonous Umbrella

Another odd Bulgarian death

Vladimir Simeonov, 30, a Bulgarian defector working in London for the BBC, failed to show up for work last week. Concerned, a colleague went to his east London row house to investigate. He found Simeonov dead, clad in a bathrobe and pajama bottoms, face down at the bottom of his stair well.

Normally, Simeonov's apparent fall would have been dismissed as an accident. Police found no telltale injuries on his body, and a post-mortem indicated death by asphyxiation: the victim had suffocated in...