page_title: Green Bicycle Case
section_title: Ronald Light
hierarchical_section_title: Green Bicycle Case / Ronald Light
caption_attribution_description: English: Ronald Light after his acquittal in 1920
context_page_description: 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. 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.
  Ronald Light, a 33-year-old mathematics teacher, is considered the prime suspect in Wright's murder. Light did not come forward in response to an extensive media appeal to trace a man matching his description seen on the green bicycle, and he is known to have made attempts to dispose of both his bicycle and revolver holster in a canal following her death. Upon his arrest, Light initially denied, then admitted to being in the company of Wright shortly before her death, although he consistently denied killing her. He was defended in court by Sir Edward Marshall Hall KC, who largely based his defence on the lack of a motive for Wright's death. Marshall Hall obtained Light's acquittal.
context_section_description: Ronald Vivian Light was born on 19 October 1885, the son of a wealthy civil engineer who managed a Coalville colliery, and reportedly also an inventor of plumbing devices.
  According to a prosecution brief from the murder trial, Light was expelled from Oakham School in 1902, at the age of 17, for "lifting a little girl's clothes over her head". (The same brief states that in his thirties he attempted to seduce a 15-year-old girl, and had admitted to engaging in "improper conduct" with an 8-year-old girl.) Light was a graduate of the University of Birmingham, where he graduated as a civil engineer before gaining employment as a draughtsman at the Derby Works of the Midland Railway in November 1906. He would be fired from this firm in August 1914, suspected of setting a fire in a cupboard and of drawing indecent graffiti in a lavatory. Light was later dismissed from employment at a farm, accused of setting fire to haystacks.
  In May 1910, Light purchased a green BSA folding bicycle from Orton Bros. in Derby. This bicycle was a distinctive green colour, with an uncommon coaster brake. At approximately the same time, he became a member of a Buxton-based Territorial company of the Royal Engineers.
  Following the outbreak of the First World War, Light underwent training at Chatham, Newark and Ripon. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in February 1915, before being deployed to the Western Front. Light relinquished his commission in the Royal Engineers on 1 July 1916 on the suggestion of his commanding officer. He returned to the ranks as a gunner in the Honourable Artillery Company. He was court-martialled in 1917 for forging move orders. After three years of active service, Light was classified as suffering from severe shell-shock and partial deafness and sent back to England to undergo psychiatric treatment.
  Following recuperation at several army hospitals in England, Light returned to live with his mother in Highfield Street, Leicester. He was demobilised in January 1919 and would later claim to have been "sent home a broken man". 
  On 21 September 1916, Light's father died in an apparent accident, although his death has been suggested to have been suicide. Light's mother explained that the possible suicide resulted from the father's concern for his son's safety as he served on the Western Front.
caption: The accused, Ronald Light, pictured after his 1920 acquittal
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