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Thirteen convictions relating to corrupt police officer DS Derek Ridgewell now overturned following CCRC referrals 

Published:

The Court of Appeal has today [17 July 2025] quashed the convictions of Errol Campbell and Ronald De Souza following reviews by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) of cases involving the corrupt and racist practices of police officer Derek Ridgewell in the 1970s.  

This brings the total number of cases involving DS Ridgewell referred and overturned to 13. It also means that all convictions of a group of young men known as the “Stockwell Six” have now been quashed. 

The Stockwell Six were young black men arrested on the London Underground by DS Ridgewell’s anti-robbery squad in February 1972 after boarding a train at Stockwell tube station.  

Mr De Souza, one of the Stockwell Six, was convicted in September 1972 of attempted robbery. 

Mr Campbell was convicted in April 1977 of theft and conspiracy to steal from a London goods depot. Both men’s appeals were unsuccessful.  

In both cases, the convictions followed operations conducted by DS Ridgewell, an officer with the British Transport Police.  

The CCRC carried out a range of investigations into the misconduct of DS Ridgewell, who fabricated evidence that led to convictions that lasted long after his death in 1982.  

DS Ridgewell confronted mostly young, black men and falsely accused them of theft and robbery offences.  He was himself eventually arrested and convicted of conspiracy to steal goods in transit. He was jailed for seven years in 1980 after stealing over £1 million in goods. 

The CCRC had previously appealed for Mr De Souza to come forward after referring the convictions of his co-defendants. (They were overturned on the basis of new information rendering the evidence of DS Ridgewell and his colleagues unreliable.)    

Mr Campbell died in October 2004. His family made the application to the CCRC on his behalf with the assistance of the charity APPEAL.  The convictions of Mr Campbell’s co-defendants, Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin, were referred in August 2023 and quashed in January 2024. 

Following reviews, the CCRC concluded that the Court of Appeal was likely to take the same approach to Mr De Souza and Mr Campbell’s convictions as it did for their co-defendants and find that new evidence relating to DS Ridgewell rendered the convictions unsafe.  

You can read more about the CCRC’s investigations into DS Ridgewell, including an account written by Winston Trew, one of the Oval Four, on our website.  

[ENDS] 

Notes to Editors: 

  1. The CCRC is an independent body set up under the Criminal Appeal Act 1995. It is responsible for independently reviewing suspected and alleged miscarriages of criminal justice in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is based in Birmingham and is funded by the Ministry of Justice.     
  1. There are currently ten Commissioners who bring to the CCRC considerable experience from a wide variety of backgrounds. Commissioners are appointed by the monarch on the recommendation of the Prime Minister in accordance with the Office for the Commissioner for Public Appointments’ Code of Practice.  
  1. The CCRC usually receives around 1,500 applications for reviews (convictions and/or sentences) each year. Since starting work in 1997, the CCRC has referred around 3% of applications to the appeal courts.     
  1. The CCRC considers whether, as a result of new evidence or argument, there is a real possibility that the conviction would not be upheld were a reference to be made. New evidence or argument is argument or evidence which has not been raised during the trial or on appeal.  Applicants should usually have appealed first. A case can be referred in the absence of new evidence or argument or an earlier appeal only if there are “exceptional circumstances”.       
  1. If a case is referred, it is then for the appeal court to decide whether the conviction is unsafe.     
  1. More details about the role and work of the Criminal Cases Review Commission can be found at www.ccrc.gov.uk. The CCRC can be found on X, Facebook, Instagram (@the_ccrc) and Linkedin.