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The farmer who found Bella Wright’s body thought she’d been knocked off her bicycle. Hours later the police realised she’d been shot in the face. Bella was 21 when she met her death on an English country road in July 1919. Detectives brought a man to trial, but he was acquitted by the jury and walked free and the identity of the murderer is unknown. Simon Ford and Jacques Morrell visit the scene, at Little Streeton in Leicestershire, where they reveal the result of their investigation into the Green Bicycle Murder.

The Six O’clock Knock is a Psycho Killer production.

Transcript
[Music] This podcast contains descriptions of death and violence that some listeners may find upsetting. So, hello and welcome to episode five of the Six O’clock Knock the true crime podcast that takes a fresh look at murder the Six O’clock Knock is presented by me Simon Ford and former major crime detective Jacques Morrell in this episode we look at the mystery surrounding the death of Bella Wright in 1919 a case that continues to baffle armchair detectives now what got you onto this particular case Jacques a listener suggested it which was great after a bit of research it sparked my interest yeah I’ve read your brief and it covers an interesting period in Britain politically as well as culturally there was the end of the great war the status of our returning soldiers the suffrage movement women demanding equality some women becoming jurors the old school class system there were many firearms in circulation and the military must have built up a lot of expertise in the science of a bullet and the damage that it can do so this green bicycle case has struck a chord with you then that was also at the end of the great war and Bella Wright's family didn't get justice they just had to get on with it suck it up and live with it Bella Wright was the same age as my grandmother was so I’ve been able to reflect on the attitudes of the time where working-class women were expected to know their place and not to challenge the authority of uh the men in power okay let's set the scene for this fresh look at the case from 1919 that has become known as the green bicycle murder we've read a recent book about the case by author Anthony Brown and the title of that is the green bicycle mystery now I don't know what the listeners will think about this but I don't see much of a mystery at all. All I see is a travesty and that's a travesty of justice so Jacques we must be pretty close to the spot where Bella’s body was found now isn't we we're on the right footpath and ah there's a gateway and we're in the middle of a cornfield even today it's a field of wheat yeah but it's getting into the evening now sun's sort of dropping ahead of us now as we're looking over the cornfield towards um where she was found [Music] the text from the green bicycle mystery helps to set the scene for us on the evening of Saturday the 5th of July 1919 near the village of little Stretton in Leicestershire just down there beyond that hedgerow in the main road a solitary bicycle lies on its side its metal frame catching the glow of the fading evening Light the back wheel turns slowly about its axle producing a soft clicking a rhythmic sound soothing like the ticking of a study clock next to the bicycle lying at an angle across the road as a young woman she's partly on her back partly on her left side with her right hand almost touching the mud guard of the rear wheel her legs rest on the roadside verge where fronds of white cow parsley and pink rose bay rise above luxuriant summer foliage on her head sits a wide brimmed hat daintily finished with a ribbon and a bone she's dressed in a pastel blouse and a long skirt underneath a Light raincoat the pockets of which contain an empty purse and a box of matches the blood flecked coat tells a story the unidentified body was on Gartree road part of the Roman road between Leicester and Market Harborough a local farmer named Joseph Cowell came across the woman and he initially went to pick her up he realized immediately that she had a head injury she'd lost a lot of blood and that she was dead Cowell assumed that she may have fallen from her bicycle so he went to a place called Great Glen just down the road and told the local constable pc Hall a doctor was summonsed and all three returned to little Stretton it was Dr Williams who made a check of the area by candlelight now he confirmed that she was dead and likely to have died from her head injury using the farmer's pony and trap the body was moved to an empty house nearby remember that in 1919 even in cities like nearby Leicester transport was very different there were a few cars around there were trolley buses in town but horses and carts were still a common means of transport as was cycling PC Hall made a brief check around the scene where we stood now it was apparent that some crows had shown an interest in the body he saw that there were bird tracks in and around the blood next to the body and there were traces of blood on the top of the nearby wooden gate in the meadow beyond the gate where we're now stood a crow lay dead the long grass in the meadow was flattened into a footpath leading to the distant cornfields but pc Hall noted that there were no human footprints on either side of the gate the following day pc Hall returned to where the body had been discovered his careful examination of the ground near to where the woman was found revealed a more sinister explanation to her death a 0.455 calibre bullet was found 5 metres from where the body had lain it had been slightly embedded in the ground by a horse's hoof he returned to the unoccupied house and washed the congealed blood off the face of the corpse beneath the woman's left eye he found a single entry wound the hole was large enough to put a pencil through it this woman who was still unidentified had been shot a full post-mortem examination was carried out by Dr Williams and a second doctor his assessment although not an expert was that she'd been shot once from a distance of six to seven feet and that the bullet had exited the rear of her skull there's a couple of things worth mentioning here the location of her death had not been declared a crime scene and this meant it had not been preserved and kept secure now various people would have travelled along this

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