Two men have had their names cleared posthumously after being “trumped up” on the word of one of Britain’s most corrupt police officers.
British Rail workers Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet died on wrongful convictions after racist British Transport Police officer Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell accused them of stealing from a site from which he later admitted stealing.
Their 1977 convictions for conspiring to steal from the goods warehouse where they worked today have been overturned almost 50 years after the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred them to the Court of Appeal.
The court heard that DS Ridgewell’s conviction for stealing £364,000 worth of property from the same warehouse in 1980 represented new evidence that made the convictions unsafe. Ridgewell died of a heart attack in prison in 1982 at the age of 37.
After investigating the officer’s “historically racist and corrupt practices”, the CCRC returned a total of 11 cases based on his evidence to the court. Other cases include wrongful convictions of members of the so-called Oval Four and the Stockwell Six.
Returning the convictions to a courtroom full of family and friends of Mr Peterkin and Mr Mehment, Judge Holroyde said: “The most important issue that was not put before the jury and was not known at the time was that the prosecution’s key witnesses were personally engaged in this case. The same criminal conduct that they allege against Mr. Peterkin and the other defendants.
“If the jury had been aware of this fact, it would have been very significant.”
He added: “It is very unfortunate that so many years have passed for the injustice suffered by the appellants and their families to be rectified, and that the appellants did not live to learn that they were right.”
Mr Peterkin and Mr Mehmet were sentenced to nine months in prison for robbing the British Rail depot at the Bricklayers Arms in Southwark, south London, in 1977.
They protested their innocence throughout their lives before Mr Peterkin died in August 1991 at the age of 51 and Mr Mehmet passed away in August 2021 at the age of 75.
Henry Blaxland KC, for the appellants, said the two men were “effectively rigged” by the corrupt officer who was due to be sacked in 1973 after a series of investigations were dismissed over allegations of “police brutality” and corruption.
He said: “At this point BTP could have been expected to conduct a thorough investigation. [Ridgewell] would be dismissed. “Instead, he was transferred to a different department.”
Mr Blaxland also criticized the “systemic failure” of the BTP for failing to review all convictions based on Ridgewell’s evidence after he was jailed.
“Mr Ridgewell should have been dismissed in 1973, there is no doubt about that. Secondly, the convictions derived from the evidence he presented – all convictions – should have subsequently been investigated,” he said at the hearing.
The families of Mr Mehmet and Mr Peterkin made emotional statements before the Royal Courts of Justice, demanding new legislation that would automatically review the cases of police officers convicted of a crime.
Mr Mehmet’s son, Regu Saliah, said he and his mother were left “penniless and homeless” after his father was wrongfully imprisoned, while DS Ridgewell was “kept in his position of power by continuing to victimize families like ours”.
Although today’s decision “brings some relief”, he added: “Unfortunately, our father cannot experience this trial today, he passed away two years ago.
“For more than 43 years he lived as the victim of corrupt and racist police officer DS Ridgewell. “What he experienced in those years unfortunately left a traumatic legacy that will stay with him throughout his life.”
Although DS Ridgewell’s conviction became known only three years after his father was jailed, no review was carried out to “give him his life back”.
“Instead, it took 46 years for this conviction to be overturned, and as a result the fact that she was a victim has only recently been recognised.”
He added: “We hope this will pave the way for new legislation where, after police officers receive a prison sentence, the cases they are involved in will automatically be independently reviewed so that no other family has to go through what we have.”
Mr Peterkin’s daughter Janice described her father as a “law-abiding citizen and family man” who did not deserve to go to prison.
“Basil was unfairly targeted and framed by former police officer Ridgwell, who was openly racist and corrupt,” he added.
“We are also calling for the law to be reformed so that when a police officer is sent to prison, their case can be automatically and independently reviewed for wrongful conviction.”
CCRC chief executive Helen Pitcher OBE has urged anyone who believes they have been the victim of a miscarriage of justice involving DS Ridgewell to contact them.
BTP Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said police were “appalled” by the corrupt officer’s actions.
“My colleagues and I are deeply saddened by all those affected by DS Ridgewell’s brutal actions and the resulting trauma suffered by the victims and their families,” he said.
“I would like to reiterate my sincere apologies for the trauma caused to the British African community by a corrupt BTP officer who abused his powers, causing harm not only to innocent young people who were criminalised, but also to their families and the community.”