Two men who died with convictions based on evidence from a disgraced police officer with a history of racism and corruption have had their cases referred back to the courts.
The referral of the cases of Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) comes after nine other convictions relating to British Transport Police (BTP) officer DS Derek Ridgewell were quashed.
Ridgewell, who framed the Oval Four and Stockwell Six, died in 1982 in prison, where he was serving a sentence for conspiracy to steal mailbags, having previously secured convictions against Mehmet and Peterkin for the same offence.
Mehmet and Peterkin were both sentenced to nine months in prison in 1977 over the theft of parcels from the Bricklayers Arms goods depot in Southwark, south London, where they worked.
In 1980, Ridgewell was jailed for seven years for stealing mailbags worth £364,000 from the same site. His colleagues DC Douglas Ellis and DC Alan Keeling were sentenced to six and two years in prison respectively.
Peterkin, who died in 1991, Mehmet, who died in 2021, and the 10 others who stood trial with them all claimed that items found in their possession had been planted, and that any claimed admissions of guilt had been fabricated by the police.
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.”
In 2021, BTP apologised to the British black community for the trauma caused by Ridgewell’s actions in light of the miscarriages of justice involving the Stockwell Six, who were accused of attempting to rob the corrupt officer on the London Underground, and the Oval Four, who were accused of “nicking handbags” on the tube.
The CCRC said the latest referrals came as a result of investigations into the “historical racist and corrupt practices” of Ridgewell and that it had tracked down the families of the convicted men to let them know of their right to appeal.
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.”
Mehmet and Peterkin were both convicted of conspiracy to steal. Mehmet was also convicted of handing stolen goods, and two counts of theft. They were accused of relabelling parcels to direct them to alternative addresses and then selling the goods that were inside. They always maintained their innocence.
In 2018, Stephen Simmons, who was found guilty of stealing mailbags based on Ridgewell’s evidence, had his 1976 conviction quashed, having Googled his arresting officer and then taken his case to the CCRC.
Helen Pitcher, the chair of the CCRC, said: “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.
“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.”
