Another victim of a corrupt police officer looks set to have a conviction overturned – more than 50 years after the event.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) has referred to the Court of Appeal the conviction of the final member of the “Stockwell Six” – young Black men who were convicted in 1972 for attempted robbery following an operation by the discredited transport police officer Derek Ridgewell.
Ronald De Souza was convicted on 22 September 1972 at the Central Criminal Court and received a sentence of six months’ detention.
Mr De Souza and his four convicted co-defendants tried to appeal their convictions and sentences on 2 March 1973, but leave to appeal the conviction and sentence was refused.
Mr De Souza was one of a group of young Black men arrested by DS Derek Ridgewell of the British Transport Police “anti-mugging squad” after boarding a train at Stockwell Underground station on 18 February 1972.
The CCRC has carried out a range of investigations into the historical racist and corrupt practices of Ridgewell, who fabricated evidence that led to convictions that lasted long after his death in 1982.
After moving to a department investigating mailbag theft, Ridgewell, who had previously served in the police in Southern Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, himself stole over £1m – now worth several times more than it was 50 years ago – from mailbags.
He was eventually caught and jailed for seven years, dying of a heart attack in prison at the age of 37.
The CCRC began its review of the Stockwell Six cases after it referred two other cases involving Ridgewell: Stephen Simmons, and the Oval Four. The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions in both of these cases.
Following CCRC referrals, the convictions of Mr De Souza’s co-defendants (Paul Green, Courtney Harriott, Cleveland Davison and Texo Johnson) were overturned by the Court of Appeal in 2021.
Everet Mullins, the sixth co-defendant, was found not guilty at trial.
The convictions were overturned on the basis of new information rendering the evidence of Ridgewell and his colleagues unreliable.
The CCRC had previously appealed for Mr De Souza to come forward. An application for a review of his conviction was received in December 2024 and the CCRC decided to refer the conviction to the Court of Appeal.
The referral was made on the same basis as those of Mr De Souza’s co-defendants –new evidence relating to Ridgewell’s conviction in 1980 for conspiracy to steal goods in transit.
The CCRC relies on the two judgments of the Court of Appeal in 2021 which led to the quashing of the convictions of Mr De Souza’s co-defendants (R v Green et al [2021] EWCA Crim 1026 and R v Johnson [2021] EWCA Crim 1837).
The CCRC has concluded that the Court of Appeal is likely to take the same approach to Mr De Souza’s conviction as it did for his co-defendant Mr Johnson, his case also being “materially indistinguishable” from those of his co-defendants and other related convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal.
“There is a real possibility the Court of Appeal will now quash Mr De Souza’s conviction,” the CCRC said.
It urged anyone else who believes they might be a victim of a miscarriage of justice, convicted in a case involving Derek Ridgewell, to contact it.
Notes to Editors:
Since starting work in 1997, the CCRC has referred only around 3% of applications to the appeal courts.
More details about its role and work can be found at www.ccrc.gov.uk. The CCRC can alsi be found on Facebook, Instagram (@the_ccrc) and Linkedin.
