Ronald Vivian Light was born on 19 October 1885, [11] [18] the son of a wealthy civil engineer who managed a Coalville colliery [11] and reportedly also invented plumbing devices. [19]

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] 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] Marjoribanks, Edward (1989). Famous Trials of Marshall Hall. Penguin. pp. 329–342. ISBN 978-0-14-011556-7. Re-enactment of Famous Mysterious Murder Taking place". itv.com. 18 May 2016 . Retrieved 24 November 2017. Bella Wright 'Green Bicycle' Murder Recreated in Leicestershire". BBC News. 19 May 2016 . Retrieved 9 December 2017.Brown, Antony M. (2017). The Green Bicycle Mystery: The Curious Death of Bella Wright. Mirror Books. ISBN 978-1-907-32469-7. Having learned that Wright was going to Gaulby, Light offered to accompany her and she accepted. [14] Light accompanied Wright to the cottage of her uncle in nearby Gaulby, before waiting for her outside the premises. En route, the two were observed by several independent witnesses. The uncle later informed officers he liked neither the looks nor the mannerisms of Light, and that his niece had informed him she had only encountered this individual that evening, stating; "Oh him, I don't really know him at all. He's been riding alongside me for a few miles but he isn't bothering me at all. He's just chatting about the weather." [17] Although Wright remarked to her uncle that Light had behaved like a "perfect stranger" in her company, [30] just before leaving his cottage, she jokingly informed him, "I hope he doesn't get too boring", [17] before adding; "I shall try and give him the slip." [13] When Wright exited her uncle's cottage and approached her bicycle, Light was overheard greeting her with the remark: "Bella, you have been a long time. I thought you had gone the other way." [30] [n 1] 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 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

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 Blundell, Nigel; Boar, Roger (1991). The World's Greatest Unsolved Crimes. Hamlyn. ISBN 978-0-600-57231-2. 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] 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] At the time of her death, Wright—described as a girl with good looks and of good character [16]—was 21-years-old and engaged to be married to a Royal Navy stoker named Archie Ward, who served on HMS Diadem — a training ship in Portsmouth. [17] She is known to have had at least one other suitor, [14] and to have told her mother of an officer who had fallen in love with her. This may have been Ronald Light, although he denied this supposition in court. [14] Ronald Light edit The accused, Ronald Light, pictured after his 1920 acquittalBy 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] Annie Bella Wright at Find a Grave (Record mistakenly states her burial place to be Stourton, Wiltshire.) 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] 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]

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. Pearson, Edmund (1990). The Green Bicycle Case. London: Guild Publishing. pp. 29–40. ISBN 978-1-85-480030-5. 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] 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]

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 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. Murder Mystery Tale Retold on Guided Bike Ride". .leicester.gov.uk. 24 August 2017 . Retrieved 8 December 2017. Bella Wright (The Green Bicycle Murder)". Crime.net. 4 May 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2017 . Retrieved 17 November 2017.