The mum of a young man convicted of a joint enterprise murder in which a dad was stabbed to death in a drug deal gone wrong claims her son was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
East Londoner Ryan Graham, who became a dad a week before he was arrested, was jailed for 27 years after he was convicted, alongside Syd Goss and Jermain Forrester, of murdering Lee Baxter in October 2020 after what the court heard was an attempt to rob him of his cash.
His mum, Samantha Ludlow, 53, says her family's life has been turned upside down since he was put behind bars, reports MyLondon.
The trial took six weeks and throughout it, Ryan protested his innocence.
While he accepts he helped set up the drug deal in the first place, in which Lee set out to buy £5,000 of cannabis in a deal brokered through social media, he insists he had no idea it would result in Lee being stabbed.
His mum believes him and wants to see a change to the law that led to his conviction.
Joint enterprise is when an individual can be jointly convicted of a crime committed by another if the court thinks that the first individual encouraged or knew of the plans.
In cases involving two or more, 'parasitical accessory liability' (PAL) was developed. This means that if person A and B committed a further crime than that which they set out to do - in this case the attempted robbery and murder being committed on top of the intent to supply drugs - person C could be convicted simply because they were there or thought they would do it, even if they didn't deliver the fatal blow.
That is what Samantha believes her son Ryan was a victim of.
Although it was unclear from the trial who actually stabbed Lee, there were two knives recovered at Goss and Forrester's shared address and blood stains were found in the getaway car where the pair had been sitting, as well as on their clothes. Goss and Forrester were each sentenced to life with a minimum of 29 years - two more years than Ryan.
She told MyLondon: "I know people will think I'm just a mum saying my son isn't a bad guy but in this case it's true. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do think the police were lazy in a way - I think they went with the joint enterprise and just ran with it.
"There wasn't enough evidence [to convict Ryan] and the jury wasn't able to make a decision at first. Joint enterprise was a way to get all of them. It's heartbreaking.
"The judge said he couldn't be sure Ryan had a knife but because he was with a person who was sure he would use it, that makes him the same as the murderers. Ryan was about to have a baby, he would have never gone to the person if he knew anything like that would happen."
In fact Ryan became a dad about a week before he was arrested. Samantha is speaking out in the hope that cases like Ryan's and many others can be looked at.
She claims that when Ryan was arrested in October 2020, his solicitor advised him to say 'no comment' to any police questions. This decision would later prove detrimental to Ryan's defence, something that is made clear as a possibility when police read people their rights.
"He even wrote a letter giving vital evidence which they didn't acknowledge two weeks after his arrest and things may have been different if they did."
After sitting through the trial and witnessing her son get sentenced for a murder she believes he didn't commit, Samantha feels broken and depressed.
She claims Ryan told her he was the one who was contacted through social media to set up the drug deal, and he arranged for Goss and Forrester to deliver the cannabis, going with them to complete the deal.
When they met in an alleyway in Ilford, Lee refused to hand over the money until he could see the drugs and after a discussion between the two sides, Lee, who was there with his brother Karl, tried to walk away when he was rushed.
It was said in court that Ryan was involved in bringing Lee to the ground and the judge said during sentencing he believes all three of the defendants made the decision to rob Lee. But Samantha does not believe he had any knowledge of or intention to commit murder in the events that followed.
Samantha emotionally continues: "I know my son was stupid in being there and setting up the deal. I can accept that. I can't accept that he's now being called a murderer and is in prison for 27 years. It has ripped our family apart. If he had hurt someone and done it, I could accept it. He didn't. It's broken me.
"It feels like someone [in my family] has died - every day I can't see any way forward. I've got two other sons and it's affecting them, my mum and dad. We're a close family and we just don't know what to do. He knows he should have known better - to call him a murderer when he didn't hurt anyone and didn't murder.
"He would never hurt anyone. I really believed in the British justice system and I kept saying to him when it went to trial, you just have to tell the truth and the truth will come out."
Joint enterprise has been fought by organisations such as the campaign group Joint Enterprise Not Guilty by Association (JENGba), and the charity Liberty. They have argued that the law is being misinterpreted and this has led to miscarriages of justice. That is something Samantha strongly believes happened in Ryan's case.
Samantha hopes to be able to appeal Ryan's case if she can find the funds to do it. She wants Ryan to be with his nearly two-year-old son and she wants her family to be whole again.
