In the case, Sir Arthur used techniques which would have been worthy of his famous detective Sherlock Holmes. Sir Arthur believed that Birmingham-based George Edaliji had such poor eyesight that he would have been incapable of mutiliating the horses, sheep and cows by night - as the police and prosecution had held. 

A good deal of rudeness

The prison sentence, including hard labour, of Mr Edaliji - a brilliant but solitary character - caused outrage in Britain when he was sentenced in 1903, and 10,000 people - including some criminal lawyers - wrote letters of protest. The letters that were auctioned yesterday include correspondence between the author and the police officer who led the investigation and who, bizarrely, admitted fixing some evidence in order to discredit Sir Arthur in public. Sir Arthur concluded his letters to the policeman, writing: ‘..your letter is a series of inaccuracies mixed up with a good deal of rudeness’.

No compensation

The lawyer was pardoned but the author was unsuccessful in winning compensation for him. The story also hits the small screen on Monday night in a drama series from ITV, starring Martin Clunes as the author.  Source: Daily Mail