On 23 February 1920, one Enoch Whitehouse was guiding a horse-drawn barge, laden with coal, along the River Soar. The tow-rope [26] of the barge snagged the frame of the green bicycle, bringing it to the surface of the canal. Whitehouse informed the police and a decision was made to drag the canal. Other pieces of the bicycle were discovered. Examining the frame of the bicycle, investigators discovered that although the serial number had been filed off both the frame and the seat lug, and the BSA brand name had been filed off the fork, a faint serial number was still visible on the inside of the front fork. [35] Inquiries at businesses which bought, sold or otherwise repaired bicycles revealed this cycle had been bought by Light nine years previously. [37] Arrest edit

Initially, Light denied having been in or near Gaulby on 5 July, or meeting Wright on that date. He also initially denied ever owning a green bicycle, but upon being informed of the remaining serial number on the fork, claimed to have sold it years before to an individual whose name he could no longer recall. [28] Nonetheless, he was identified by eyewitnesses as the individual who had been riding alongside Wright on the evening of her death, including by her uncle. [5] Cox also identified Light from a police identity parade as being the green bicycle's owner. [6] His mother's maid, Mary Elizabeth Webb, informed investigators that on 5 July, Light had not returned home until approximately 10 p.m., claiming his bicycle had broken down, and that he had had to push it home. [ citation needed] He had also sold or destroyed all the clothing he had worn that day. [ citation needed] Brown, Antony M. (2017). The Green Bicycle Mystery: The Curious Death of Bella Wright. Mirror Books. ISBN 978-1-907-32469-7. Wright had attended school until the age of 12 before beginning work as a domestic servant, subsequently obtaining a job as a rubber hand at Bates & Co.'s St Mary's Mills, a rubber factory in Leicester, approximately five miles from home. [13] She regularly travelled to work on her bicycle. [14] At the time of her death, she was working the late shift at the factory and was known to cycle between the villages and hamlets around Little Stretton to perform errands or visit acquaintances in the late afternoon. [15] Ronald Light died on 15 May 1975 at the age of 89. [9] His body was cremated at Charing Crematorium, near Ashford, and his ashes were scattered in the crematorium's Garden of Remembrance. [51] Light had no children of his own and his stepdaughter had no notion of Light's trial and acquittal until after his death. [40]

Annie Bella Wright was born on 14 July 1897 in Somerby, Leicestershire. [11] She was the eldest of seven children born to an illiterate agricultural labourer and his wife. From around 1895 they lived in a thatched cottage in the village of Stoughton, Leicestershire, [12] four miles outside Leicester. Following recuperation at several army hospitals in England, [26] Light returned to live with his mother in Highfield Street, Leicester. He was demobilised in January 1919 [24] and would later claim to have been "sent home a broken man". [27] The Mystery of The Green Bicycle Murder Will Be Retold This Bank Holiday Weekend on Free Guided Cycle Ride". Leicester Mercury. 24 August 2017 . Retrieved 8 December 2017. Her first husband, Sgt Ernest Lester, also of the Royal Engineers, had been killed in action in 1917. The widow had abandoned her two sons in a Wolverhampton orphanage, fearful of destitution, but kept a younger daughter.

Re-enactment of Famous Mysterious Murder Taking place". itv.com. 18 May 2016 . Retrieved 24 November 2017. Blundell, Nigel; Boar, Roger (1991). The World's Greatest Unsolved Crimes. Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-57231-2. When questioned by Norman Birkett as to the girls' claims, Light simply replied, "They are lying." [ citation needed] Judge Horridge would instruct the jury to disregard the testimony of Nunney and Caven in his final instructions to the jury at the closure of Light's trial. [44]Following his acquittal, Light returned to live with his mother in Leicester, where he initially maintained a somewhat reclusive lifestyle. [20] For a time, he assumed the name "Leonard Estelle". [48] He was fined in December 1920 for registering under a false name at a hotel where he had been staying with a woman. [50] By 1928 Light was living in Leysdown-on-Sea on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent. In 1934, he married widow Lilian Lester. [n 6] Pearson, Edmund (1990). The Green Bicycle Case. London: Guild Publishing. pp. 29–40. ISBN 978-1-85-480030-5.

Bella Wright (The Green Bicycle Murder)". Crime.net. 4 May 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2017 . Retrieved 17 November 2017. Wright was buried in the churchyard of St Mary and All Saints, Stoughton on 11 July 1919. In a ceremony conducted before several hundred mourners, the vicar of Stoughton, W. N. Westmore, asked all present to reflect on "this poor girl" who had been taken away from them. Several wreaths and flowers were placed on her coffin by her family, friends, neighbours and colleagues. [11] Marjoribanks, Edward (1989). Famous Trials of Marshall Hall. Penguin. pp. 329–342. ISBN 978-0-14-011556-7.

By all accounts, Wright and Light met by chance on 5 July 1919 at around 6.45 p.m. as she rode her bicycle to the village of Gaulby, where her uncle, George Measures, resided. [28] According to Light's testimony at his trial, as he rode his bicycle towards the cross-roads where Gaulby Lane crosses Houghton Lane, he observed a young woman bending over her bicycle, and she asked him if he had a spanner to tighten a loose freewheel on her bicycle. [8] He did not, but did what he could to resolve the problem. [29] With support from British Cycling, Leicester City Council organises an annual guided cycle ride [52] which re-enacts the case. [53] Participants visit significant locations pertinent to the events of 5 July 1919 and the police investigation before progressing to Leicester Castle, where segments of Light's trial are re-enacted. [54] Bella Wright 'Green Bicycle' Murder Recreated in Leicestershire". BBC News. 19 May 2016 . Retrieved 7 December 2017.

At the scene, PC Hall found what he later described as "smears of blood on the top bar of the field gate", although he discovered no human footprints on either side of the gate. Nonetheless, a dead carrion crow was discovered in a field close to this gate. [n 2] [36] The Mystery of The Green Bicycle Murder will be Retold this Bank Holiday Weekend on Free Guided Cycle Ride". Leicester Mercury. 26 August 2017 . Retrieved 22 November 2017.

On 21 September 1916, Light's father died in an apparent accident, [24] although possibly suicide caused by concern for his son's safety on the Western Front. [11] 5 July 1919 edit The Green Bicycle Case was a British murder investigation and subsequent trial pertaining to the fatal shooting of Bella Wright near the village of Little Stretton, Leicestershire on 5 July 1919. Wright was killed by a single bullet wound to the face. [1] [2] The case takes its name from the fact that on the evening of her death, Wright had been seen cycling in the company of a man riding a green bicycle. [3] [4] The victim, Annie Bella Wright, seen here in a newspaper article published shortly after her murder Marshall Hall restricted his own examination of Light largely to technical matters. He also questioned the testimony of the expert witness on ballistics, the Leicester gunsmith Henry Clarke, who had testified that the bullet which killed Wright had sustained damage which may have been caused by a ricochet [32] and that the bullet could just as easily have been from a rifle as from a revolver. Thus a stray shot fired from a distance by another individual could have killed Wright through misadventure. [48] Marshall Hall also contended that a person shot at close range from a service revolver would have sustained much greater damage to their face, whereas Wright had only a small entry wound beneath her left eye and a larger exit wound on the right side of her head. To this contention, Clarke replied, "It depends on the velocity." [48] Marshall Hall argued that this alternative scenario was a more likely explanation for Wright's death. The jury [40] deliberated for three hours before returning a verdict of not guilty, which was cheered by many spectators present. [49] Aftermath edit At his own insistence and on the advice of his barrister, Light opted to testify in his own defence. [46] In his testimony, Light conveyed himself in a well-spoken demeanour. [14] He readily admitted to having lied to the police upon his arrest, before essentially admitting to everything testified to by other witnesses presented at his trial but his possession of the service revolver, and Wright's killing, claiming they had parted company at a junction close to King's Norton soon after she had left her uncle's cottage in his company. [47]