The Great Defender: The Life and Trials of Edward Marshall Hall KC, England's Greatest Barrister

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Nash, Jay Robert (1981). Almanac of World Crime. United States of America: Anchor Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-461-74768-0. Blundell, Nigel; Boar, Roger (1991). The World's Greatest Unsolved Crimes. Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-57231-2. 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]

Summary

Two girls, Muriel Nunney (14) and Valeria Caven (12), [42] would also testify for the prosecution that approximately three hours [5] before Light had encountered Wright, he had pestered them as they rode their bicycles close to where Wright's body was subsequently found. [43] [n 4] "When Bella Wright was murdered, I knew from newspaper reports the next day that she was the girl I had been with just before she died. I knew the police wanted to question me. I became a coward again ... I never told a living soul what I knew. I got rid of everything that could have connected me with her [because] I was afraid ... I see now, of course, that I did the wrong thing." [27] [45] 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] On 19 March, additional pieces of evidence were found in the canal: an Army pistol holster, conclusively identified as having been issued to Light, and a dozen live .455-calibre bullets, precisely [20] matching the spent bullet from the crime scene. [40] Trial edit 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 PC Alfred Hall would testify at Light's trial that the blood he had found on this gate came from a dead carrion crow that had "gorg[ed] itself on [Wright's] blood", with this crow apparently making six separate journeys from the gate to the corpse. [1] However, at the initial inquest, ballistics expert Robert Churchill stated that this crow had also been shot, leaving a possibility that whoever had shot the bird had also shot Wright. This evidence was never presented to the jury at Light's trial. [35]

Annie Bella Wright at Find a Grave (Record mistakenly states her burial place to be Stourton, Wiltshire.) Bella Wright (The Green Bicycle Murder)". Crime.net. 4 May 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2017 . Retrieved 17 November 2017. 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] Murder Mystery Tale Retold on Guided Bike Ride". .leicester.gov.uk. 24 August 2017 . Retrieved 8 December 2017.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 a b c d "Who Murdered Bella Wright? Class Matters in Case of the Green Bicycle". New York Daily News. 11 July 2010 . Retrieved 22 November 2017. Re-enactment of Famous Mysterious Murder Taking place". itv.com. 18 May 2016 . Retrieved 24 November 2017. Approximately thirty minutes after Wright and her companion had ridden away from Measures' cottage, Wright's body was found on Gartree Road, part of the Via Devana Roman road, by a farmer named Joseph Cowell. [33] Her body was discovered alongside her bicycle, [6] and her face was extensively bloodied, with deep gouge marks visible on her cheeks and jaw. [34] Surmising the girl may have been run off the road by a motorist, Cowell initially deduced she had fallen from her bicycle and fatally injured herself. [13] Cowell proceeded to nearby Great Glen to report his discovery to the local policeman, Constable Alfred Hall, who phoned a doctor in Billesdon. Dr Williams arrived at Hall's residence and the trio returned to Little Stretton, where the doctor gave instructions that the girl's body be moved to a nearby unoccupied house upon Cowell's trap. [19]

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] Lane, Brian (1991). The Murder Guide to Great Britain. London: Robinson Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-1-854-87083-4. 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.Bella Wright 'Green Bicycle' Murder Recreated in Leicestershire". BBC News. 19 May 2016 . Retrieved 7 December 2017. Light's prior offences went unreported by the newspapers of the time. Generally, press coverage of Light was sympathetic to an individual they portrayed as an "engineer, teacher and ex-Army officer" who stood accused of the murder of a simple "factory girl". [40] Bella Wright 'Green Bicycle' Murder Recreated in Leicestershire". BBC News. 19 May 2016 . Retrieved 8 December 2017. 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] Wakefield, Herbert (1930). The Green Bicycle Case: The Trial of Ronald Light for Murder. Philip Allan Publishing. ASIN B0018GM544.