Bella In The Whych Elm [scheduled to be published in 2021]

Over the course of two years, I researched the mysterious British murder case known as ‘Bella in the Whych Elm’. In 1943, a few boys stumbled upon the skeletal remains of a woman (nicknamed Bella) inside a hollow tree, in a forest close to Hagley, Birmingham. Despite a thorough investigation, the case and and Bella’s identity remain an unsolved mystery. I took 35mm photographs of the spot were the captivating crime took place and wrote five fictional stories from the perspective of the unidentified female. In each story, the victim is a completely different character. Her fatal ending, however, remains the same. The stories are published in a book accompanied by the photographs I shot in and around the Hagley forest. 

A house near the Hagley forest, 35mm

A path that leads round the Hagley Hall forest, in which Bella was found. 35mm.

A gloomy sky predicts rain above the spot were the skeletal remains were found, 35mm.

A view of the Hagley forest from the moors that surround it, 35mm.

An old tree trunk found near a path that leads past Hagley Hall, 35mm.

A lone tree in a meadow across the path that leads into the Hagley forest, 35mm.