Jean-Pierre Vaquier (14 July 1879 – 12 August 1924) was a French inventor and murderer. He was convicted in Britain of murdering the husband of his mistress by poisoning him with

strychnine Strychnine (, , American English, US chiefly ) is a highly toxicity, toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, ...

. Vaquier was born in Niort-de-Sault on

Bastille Day Bastille Day is the common name given in English-speaking countries to the national day of France, which is celebrated on 14 July each year. It is referred to, both legally and commonly, as () in French, though ''la fête nationale'' is also u ...

, 1879. In 1924, he was working as a lecturer in radio-telephony, when he met Mabel Jones in Biarritz; she had gone there to recover from a breakdown. He spoke no English and she spoke no French, so they conducted their affair through the medium of a dictionary. When Jones returned to

Byfleet Byfleet is a village in Surrey, England. It is located in the far east of the borough of Woking, around east of West Byfleet, from which it is separated by the M25 motorway and the Wey Navigation. The village is of medieval origin. Its win ...

, Vaquier followed and took up residence in the Blue Anchor pub in Byfleet, which Jones ran with her husband, Alfred George Poynter Jones. He said that he planned to market a new sausage-making machine he had patented. On the morning of 29 March Alfred Jones came downstairs and took his habitual glass of

Bromo-Seltzer Bromo-Seltzer is a brand of antacid formulated to pain reliever, relieve pain occurring together with heartburn, upset stomach, or acid indigestion. It originally contained sodium bromide and acetanilide, both toxic substances which were event ...

as a hangover remedy from a bottle in the bar parlour, where Vaquier had already been sitting for some time. Jones immediately became ill and died shortly afterwards. His doctor carried out a post-mortem and

was found in the body and in the bottle. A second post-mortem was carried out by Sir

Bernard Spilsbury Sir Bernard Henry Spilsbury (16 May 1877 – 17 December 1947) was an English pathologist. His cases include Hawley Crippen, the Seddon case, the Major Armstrong poisoning, the "Brides in the Bath" murders by George Joseph Smith, the Crumb ...

. Vaquier was arrested three weeks later and a chemist in London identified him as the customer who had bought 0.12 grams (2 grains) of strychnine, signing the poisons book as "J. Wanker" . The trial took place in July 1924 at

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

Assizes The assizes (), or courts of assize, were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes ex ...

before Mr. Justice Avory, with Sir

Patrick Hastings Sir Patrick Gardiner Hastings (17 March 1880 – 26 February 1952) was an English barrister and politician noted for his long and highly successful career as a barrister and his short stint as Attorney General. He was educated at Charterhouse ...

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

(who traditionally prosecuted in person in poisoning cases) and Sir

Edward Marshall Hall Sir Edward Marshall Hall, (16 September 1858 – 24 February 1927) was an English barrister who had a formidable reputation as an orator. He successfully defended many people accused of notorious murders and became known as "The Great Defender ...

for the prosecution; Vaquier was defended by

Henry Curtis Bennett Sir Henry Honywood Curtis-Bennett, KC (31 July 1879 – 2 November 1936) was an English barrister and Conservative Party politician. As a barrister, he led the defence in the 1922 cases of Herbert Rowse Armstrong and of Edith Thompson and Fre ...

. He was found guilty and hanged by Robert Baxter at

HM Prison Wandsworth HM Prison Wandsworth is a Prison security categories in the United Kingdom, Category B men's prison at Wandsworth in the London Borough of Wandsworth, South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It is operated by His Majesty's Pri ...

References

* * * 1879 births 1924 deaths French people convicted of murder French people executed abroad French people imprisoned in the United Kingdom People executed by England by hanging Strychnine poisoning {{crime-bio-stub