A gambling addict son has been apprehended by police after he was secretly filmed poisoning his mother and stepfather in order to inherit their money.

Accused Artyom Missyura, reports local media in Russia, was up to his neck in debt and decided the only way he could pay it off was if he killed his mum Ekaterina and stepdad. His parents had been tipped off by medics that their deteriorating health had been caused by poison, which was then traced to their food at home, and Missyura, 25, was later filmed administering it during one of his solo visits to their apartment in Balashikha, just east of Moscow, local media reported on 20th July.

The cameras were installed after doctors contacted police, who provided the couple with a secret CCTV camera for their kitchen. Sinister footage shows Missyura taking spoonfuls of a toxic chemical and adding it to a jar of what seems to be sugar.

Further tests revealed that virtually all of the food at his parents’ home had been doped with the poison, which was not identified in local media. Police say that between January to June of this year, Missyura repeatedly laced their food and drink with poison.

Following his arrest, say police, Missyura confessed to poisoning under interrogation. Police say he planned to sell off his parents’ apartment to pay off his gambling debts.

Now, investigators are re-examining the deaths of other family members who they now believe could have been poisoning victims. In April this year, Missyura’s grandmother died unexpectedly.

A pal said: “He borrowed money from his grandmother supposedly to buy a car for a month and never returned it.” It was believed her death was of natural causes, and three months earlier, his girlfriend was hospitalised with poisoning.

While she was in the hospital, Missyura took out two loans in her name, each for RUB 300,000 (£2,648), police have now discovered. Missyura was struggling to pay off enormous debts he had run up from gambling and online casinos.