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The CCRC refers for appeal the conviction of the fourth and final member of the Oval Four

The CCRC has referred the 1972 theft and police assault conviction of Omar Boucher to the Court of Appeal on the basis of police misconduct.

Mr Boucher was one of the so-called Oval Four co-defendants.

The four men, Winston Trew, Sterling Christie, George Griffiths and Omar Boucher, were convicted together at the Old Bailey on 8th November 1972. All four were convicted of assaulting a police officer and attempted theft. Mr Christie was also convicted of the theft of a police woman’s handbag. The four men became known as the Oval Four.

The CCRC referred the convictions of Messrs Trew, Christie and Griffiths in late 2019 on the basis of new evidence and arguments concerning the integrity of DS Derek Ridgewell who was the arresting officer and key prosecution witness.

Mr Boucher, who lives in the USA, contacted the CCRC after the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions of his so co-defendants on 5th December.

The Commission has now referred Mr Boucher’s conviction on the same basis on which it referred his co-defendants’ convictions.  Those reasons are set out in the earlier CCRC statements linked below.

The CCRC statement about the first two Oval Four referrals (Messrs Trew and Christie) can be found here.

The CCRC statement in relation to the second referral (Mr Griffiths) can be found here. 

The CCRC statement in response to the Court of Appeal quashing convictions in those cases can be found here.

Neither Mr Boucher, Mr Trew, Mr Christie, nor Mr Griffiths were legally represented during their applications to the CCRC.