Marie_Besnard

Marie Besnard (15 August 1896 – 14 February 1980), also known as 'The Good Lady of Loudun', was an accused serial poisoner in the mid-20th century.
Besnard was first charged with multiple murder on July 21, 1949, under her maiden name, Marie Joséphine Philippine Davaillaud. After three trials lasting over ten years (the first held in Poitiers), Besnard was finally freed in 1954, then acquitted on December 12, 1961. The case attracted widespread attention throughout the country and remains one of the most enigmatic in modern French legal history.