The last member of the Stockwell Six, a group of friends alleged to have attempted to rob a corrupt police officer over five decades ago, may soon see his name vindicated following a referral of his conviction to the Court of Appeal.
Ronald De Souza was one of six young men accused in 1972 of attempting to rob British Transport Police (BTP) officer Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell during a night out in London.
Although all six maintained their innocence, five were convicted after a trial at the Old Bailey, despite testifying that they had been subjected to lies, violence, and intimidation by the police.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC), an organization that examines instances of wrongful convictions, has now taken a closer look at Mr. De Souza’s case.
The review was prompted after the commission sought Mr. De Souza’s testimony following the overturning of the convictions of his co-defendants—Paul Green, Courtney Harriot, Cleveland Davidson, and Texo Johnson—in 2021.
The CCRC noted, “The Court of Appeal is likely to treat Mr. De Souza’s conviction similarly to that of his co-defendant Mr. Johnson, as his situation is ‘materially indistinguishable’ from those of other overturned related convictions.”
As such, there exists a significant likelihood that the Court of Appeal may also overturn Mr. De Souza’s conviction.
Everet Mullins, the sixth member of the Stockwell Six, was acquitted after it was determined that his reading skills were insufficient for him to have comprehended the signed statement prepared for him by Ridgewell.
The CCRC stated that the previous convictions were vacated based on new evidence that undermined the reliability of Ridgewell and his colleagues’ testimonies.
Ridgewell, who once served with the police force in South Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), was involved in multiple controversial cases throughout the early 1970s and was ultimately convicted of theft in 1980.
Jenny Wiltshire, Mr. De Souza’s solicitor, remarked, “While it is encouraging that the CCRC has referred Mr. De Souza’s conviction to the Court of Appeal, it is lamentable that it has taken over five decades for the miscarriage of justice he endured to begin to be rectified.”
She pointed out that Ridgewell’s conviction should have prompted BTP to reassess every criminal investigation he had participated in.
“However, that did not happen. Consequently, it has taken 50 years for the individuals wronged by him to emerge and fight for their names to be cleared,” she added.
“Moreover, the corruption of Detective Sergeant Ridgewell was not limited to the Stockwell Six and the Oval Four cases.
“In fact, I doubt that all of his victims have yet been identified.”
In 1972, while in civilian attire, Ridgewell accused the group of young men who had boarded a train at Stockwell station of attempted robbery, claiming he resisted and subsequently arrested them with the assistance of undercover officers.
Ridgewell’s involvement in contentious cases during the early 1970s reached a peak with the 1973 exoneration of the so-called Tottenham Court Road Two, two Oxford University Jesuit students.
He later transferred to a unit investigating mail theft, where he allied with two criminals to share the profits from stolen mailbags.
After being apprehended, he was sentenced to seven years in prison and died of a heart attack while incarcerated in 1982 at the age of 37.
The CCRC encourages anyone who believes they may have been wrongfully convicted in a matter involving Ridgewell to reach out to them.
