The final convicted member of the Stockwell Six, a collective of young black men wrongfully accused of attempting to rob a corrupt police officer over fifty years ago, has had his case sent back to the court of appeal.
Ronald De Souza was apprehended alongside five associates in 1972 and charged in connection with an attempted robbery of the now-infamous officer, DS Derek Ridgewell. The trial took place at the Old Bailey, primarily based on Ridgewell’s testimony, with all defendants declaring their innocence.
Except for one, the group was found guilty and sentenced to prison, even though jurors were presented with allegations of deceit, violence, and intimidation by police officers. De Souza received a six-month detention sentence.
The five men sought to challenge their convictions and sentences in 1973 but were denied.
In 2021, new evidence exposing Ridgewell’s corrupt and racist conduct prompted the court of appeal to overturn the convictions of De Souza’s co-defendants: Paul Green, Courtney Harriott, Cleveland Davison, and Texo Johnson.
Although the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) had referred their cases, De Souza’s situation remained unresolved. The prior chair of the CCRC, Helen Pitcher, publicly appealed for De Souza or his relatives to come forward.
In December, De Souza submitted an application to the CCRC, which recently announced that his conviction has now been referred back to the court of appeal.
Jenny Wiltshire, De Souza’s lawyer and a partner at Hickman & Rose, remarked, “It’s encouraging that the CCRC has referred Mr. De Souza’s conviction to the court of appeal, but it is a tragedy that it has taken over five decades for the injustice he experienced to begin to be rectified.”
“Derek Ridgewell, the corrupt officer central to this case and others, was convicted in 1980. At that point, Ridgewell’s employer, British Transport Police, should have conducted a comprehensive review of every criminal case he had handled.
“However, this did not occur. Consequently, it took half a century for the individuals he victimized to come forward and pursue the clearing of their names.”
Wiltshire emphasized that Ridgewell’s misconduct extended beyond just the Stockwell Six and the Oval Four cases, stating, “I am not convinced that all of his victims have been identified.”
Ridgewell’s unethical actions at the British Transport Police were revealed when he was discovered exploiting a supposed investigation into mailbag fraud to share the profits from stolen mailbags with two accomplices. He was sentenced to seven years in prison and passed away from a heart attack while incarcerated in 1982 at the young age of 37.
The Stockwell Six case stemmed from Ridgewell being assigned to lead a new mugging squad in London in 1972, where he sought to maximize his arrest numbers.
On February 18, 1972, while in plain clothes, he alleged that De Souza and five friends, who boarded a train at Stockwell station in south London, attempted to rob him. Ridgewell maintained that he had defended himself and subsequently detained them with the help of undercover officers.
Only one accused, Everett Mullins, was acquitted at the time, as it was demonstrated that his reading skills were inadequate to comprehend the signed statement attributed to him by Ridgewell.
Former Det Supt Graham Satchwell, who co-authored a book about Ridgewell with another of his victims, Winston Trew, asserted the profound impact of the wrongful convictions, saying, “He truly devastated lives and families.”
Matt Foot, co-director of the miscarriages of justice organization Appeal and an advocate for many of Ridgewell’s victims, stated that their prolonged quest for justice highlights the urgent need for legal reform. “It is imperative that we amend the law so that when police officers like DS Ridgewell are imprisoned, their files are automatically reviewed for potential miscarriages of justice,” he insisted.
Meanwhile, a representative from the Ministry of Justice indicated there are currently no plans to reform the law.
In a statement, the CCRC mentioned that they are still seeking additional victims of Ridgewell’s corrupt policing practices: “Anyone who suspects they might have been wrongfully convicted in a case involving Derek Ridgewell is encouraged to reach out to the CCRC.”
