Derek Bradley

Derek Bradley is the victim in a poisoning case recalled by Hercule Poirot as part of a sequence of earlier crimes. His affair, his wife’s threat to kill him, and his death from potassium cyanide in beer set in motion her arrest, trial, and execution.

Identity and Background

Bradley was carrying on an intrigue with a girl when his wife discovered it. The evidence identifies him through this concealed relationship and the domestic crisis that followed its exposure; it provides no further background about his life.

The Poisoning and Its Aftermath

After discovering the affair, Mrs Bradley threatened to kill her husband. Bradley subsequently died after potassium cyanide was administered in his beer. The account connects the death to the threat and records the resulting prosecution, but gives no further details about how the poison was administered or what evidence established the case.

Mrs Bradley was arrested and tried for murder. She broke down under cross-examination, was convicted, and was hanged. Bradley’s death therefore forms the starting point of a legal sequence that ends with his wife’s execution.

Recollection and Narrative Role

The case appears among a series of criminal cases that Arthur Hastings reads in a paper. He tells Poirot that he remembers the Bradley case from contemporary reports and recalls that Mrs Bradley was very good-looking. His recognition leads him to ask Poirot to explain why the cases have been brought to his attention.

Bradley himself remains defined by the brief account of his affair and death, while the narrative focus falls on what followed: his wife’s threat, the poisoning, and the conviction. The case is one item in the larger pattern of crimes presented to Hastings, rather than a separately dramatized investigation.