Rothley is one of Leicestershire's most affluent areas based on number of houses worth more than £1 million – especially in some streets such as The Ridgeway,[4] identified in the Sunday Times as the most expensive place to live in the East Midlands.

Married to Jean Macaulay, the daughter of a Scottish Presbyterian minister, Thomas Babington was MP for Leicester from 1800–1818, and a leading Anglican evangelical.

Educated at St John's College, Cambridge alongside William Wilberforce, the two worked closely together on social improvement and famously on the bills to abolish the slave trade.

Wilberforce and Babington spent much time at the Rothley retreat working on the text of the bills, and on the analysis of the Select Committee's enquiries into the trade.

Zachary was restored, and with a new Christian faith, went on to a lifetime devoted to the anti-slavery cause, and to have a posthumous bust in his honour placed in Westminster Abbey.

The village square was decorated with yellow ribbons, teddy bears, notes and cards by people wanting to show support.

The heavy media presence in the village led to tension between journalists and the local community, the majority of whom responded by declining reporters' requests for comment about the case.