These flowed from work in five other quashed convictions and concerned the same team of discredited police officers.
Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson were part of a group of six young Black men who later became known as the Stockwell Six. The men were charged with assault with intent to rob a police officer in plain clothes on the London Underground in 1972.
The six men stood trial at the Old Bailey in September 1972. All pleaded not guilty. Green and Davidson were convicted and sent to Borstal (youth detention centre); and Harriot was sentenced to three years in prison.
Each of the convictions rested on the evidence of a police officer: Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell. In 1978, DS Ridgewell was convicted for conspiracy to steal whilst working as an officer for the British Transport Police in 1978. Recent successful appeals in our earlier references of R v Simmons [2018] EWCA Crim 114 and R v Trew, Christie and Griffiths [2019] EWCA Crim 2474 concerned the accumulating body of information that undermines the integrity of Ridgewell and his team.
We are keen to contact the remaining members of the Stockwell Six (Texo Joseph Johnson, Ronald De’Souza and Everet Mullins) as well as others convicted on the evidence of Ridgewell, who has since died in custody on other charges.
British Transport Police has since begun a review of other cases concerning DS Ridgewell’s activities during his time with the force.