Fiona Robertson appeared on behalf of the Crown in two appeals against conviction arising from fresh evidence now known about the corruption and racism of former British Transport Police officer DS Derek Ridgewell.
Ronald De Souza is the last of the ‘Stockwell Six’, a group of young black men falsely accused of trying to rob Derek Ridgewell on the London Underground, to have his conviction from 1972 overturned. As a teenager, he was falsely accused of robbing Derek Ridgewell on a London Underground train but always maintained he had been set up by the police. Derek Ridgewell, at the time, led a ‘mugging squad’ tasked with investigating muggings, thefts and pickpocketing on the London Underground network.
Concerns were raised by a series of judges as to the conduct of the ‘mugging squad’, including forced false confessions, which led to the squad being disbanded. Rather than being dismissed, however, Derek Ridgewell was simply moved to head a different team investigating thefts at the Bricklayers Arms Depot in South London. It was there that Errol Campbell was accused, and later convicted, of conspiracy to steal in 1977 along with a number of other black males. He always maintained his innocence, asserting police had planted the evidence incriminating him and he had been targeted because he was black.
It later transpired that at the time of giving evidence against Errol Campbell, Derek Ridgewell and two other officers involved in the investigation were themselves stealing from the Bricklayers Arms Depot. On 22 January 1980, Derek Ridgewell pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal and was sentenced to 7 years’ imprisonment. He died in prison in 1982.
The cases were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission who had previously referred 11 similar cases. The appeals were not opposed, as Fiona “properly and fairly” conceded that had the evidence regarding Derek Ridgewell’s corruption been known at the time of the original trials or appeals, it would plainly have been admissible to challenge the credibility of Derek Ridgewell as both cases rested on the reliability and honesty of his evidence. Lord Justice Holroyde, giving the judgment of the court in each case, expressed his regret that the court could not undo all that both appellants had suffered but hoped that the quashing of the convictions brought some comfort.
The case featured in National Press:
Fiona Robertson