Convictions of rail workers based on corrupt police officer evidence set to be reviewed

Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet were both sentenced to nine months in prison in 1977 after they were convicted of stealing from the Bricklayers Arms’ Goods Depot in Southwark, south London, and they died with their convictions still in place.

The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has now sent their cases to the Court of Appeal, in the latest potential miscarriage of justice involving disgraced British Transport Police Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell.

Ridgewell’s evidence was pivotal in the convictions of Mr Peterkin and Mr Mehmet, but in 1980 the officer himself along with two colleagues – DC Douglas Ellis and DC Alan Keeling – admitted a plot to steal £364,000 worth of property from the same depot.

Enquiries into the activities of Ridgewell, who died in prison in 1982, have revealed a pattern of corrupt behaviour, fabricating evidence, and deliberately framing black men for crimes they did not commit.

The CCRC has now referred 11 cases involving Ridgewell to the Court of Appeal, including four black men known as the Oval Four who were framed by the corrupt officer over muggings on the Tube. Their convictions were overturned in 2019, nearly 50 years after they had been convicted and jailed.

Ridgewell was also behind the conviction of the Stockwell Six, another group accused of attempting to rob on the underground who had been framed.

Mr Mehmet died in August 2021 and Mr Peterkin passed away in August 1991. They were two of 12 people who stood trial at the Old Bailey in April 1977 over the alleged theft from the rail depot. They were accused of stealing by re-labelling parcels to direct them to alternative addresses, and then selling the goods that were inside.

Mr Mehmet was convicted of conspiracy to steal, handing stolen goods, and two counts of theft, and Mr Peterkin was convicted of conspiracy to steal. Eight defendants were convicted in total and four were found not guilty, having all argued that evidence against them was planted.

In a joint statement, Mr Peterkin’s children Basil, Janice and Lileith said: “Our father’s conviction was devastating for him and our whole family. He never got over it. He felt such shame that he left his home in the UK to try to start afresh. 

“We now know that the officer who arrested our father was found guilty of the very crime he had accused our father and others of committing. That officer was corrupt. We want justice and we want our father’s name cleared.”

Mr Mehmet’s children Regu, Arda and Onur said: “After fleeing war in Cyprus, our father started a family in this country. This conviction left him a changed man who never again trusted the police.

“It had a traumatic effect on our mother and our whole family for decades, including making us homeless.

“We are pleased and relieved that this case is going to the Court of Appeal. The behaviour of Ridgewell was atrocious, and we are hopeful that our father’s name will finally be cleared.”

The CCRC said it is challenging the credibility of DS Ridgewell in its reference to the Court of Appeal. Helen Pitcher OBE, Chair of CCRC issued an appeal for other possible Ridgewell victims to come forward.

“On top of considering more than 1,400 applications per year, our case review managers have used their investigative powers to track down family members of two men who may have died with unsafe convictions”, she said.

“We are continuing work to identify other potential applicants, I urge anyone else who believes that they or a loved one, friend or acquaintance was a victim of a miscarriage of justice to contact the CCRC – particularly if DS Derek Ridgewell was involved.”

In 2021, BTP Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi sent a letter to black activists, apologising for Ridgewell’s actions.

“On behalf of the British Transport Police (BTP), I am sincerely sorry for the trauma suffered by the British African community through the criminal actions of former police officer DS Derek Ridgewell, who worked in BTP during the 1960s and 70s”, she wrote.

“In particular, it is of regret that we did not act sooner to end his criminalisation of British Africans, which led to the conviction of innocent people. This is simply inexcusable and is something that my colleagues and I are appalled by.”