The Stockwell Six are a group of black British men who were put on trial for attempted robbery in 1972. Five of them were convicted, but in 2021 the convictions for four of them were overturned.

Arrests

Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson were arrested on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or by its nickname the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The U ...

in February 1972 after travelling from

Stockwell tube station Stockwell is a London Underground station in Stockwell in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is located on the Northern line between Oval and Clapham North stations, and on the Victoria line between Brixton and Vauxhall stations. It is in ...

. They were aged from 17 to 20 at the time.

Trial

They were tried on charges of assault with intend to rob

British Transport Police , nativename = , abbreviation = BTP , patch = , patchcaption = , logo = British Transport Police Logo.svg , logocaption = Logo of the British Transport Police , badge = , badgecaption = , f ...

Detective Sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

Derek Ridgewell Derek Arnold Ridgewell (9 May 1945 in King's Park, Glasgow — 31 December 1982) was a former British Transport Police officer who was involved with a series of arrests followed by court cases in which it was later found that he had framed inno ...

. Ridgewell claimed that Courtney Harriot and his friends has accosted him on an underground train between Stockwell and

Oval tube station Oval is a London Underground station in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is on the Northern line between Kennington and Stockwell stations and is in Travelcard Zone 2. It opened on 18 December 1890 as part of the City and South London Railwa ...

. Ridgewell claimed that Harriot had snapped fingers at him and said "Give me some bread, man" then produced a knife and said "Your wallet or it's this!". Ridgewell claimed he then drew his truncheon, then knocked the knife out of Harriot's hand as other undercover officers entered from adjoining compartments. He claimed that Harriot shouted "Fuzz!". All six defendants pleaded not guilty and testified that the alleged incident had never happened and that they had been arrested at Oval tube station. They testified that police had threatened them, been violent and put words in their mouths.

Verdict

Paul Green was convicted of assault with intent to rob and sent to

Borstal A Borstal was a type of youth detention centre in the United Kingdom, several member states of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and the Republic of Ireland. In India, such a detention centre is known as a Borstal school. Borstals were ...

. Courtney Harriot was sentenced to three years in prison. Cleveland Davidson, Texo Johnson and Ronald De’Souza were convicted of related offences and Everet Mullins was found not guilty.

Campaigns

In 1973 the BBC television programme ''

Nationwide Nationwide may refer to: Organisations * Nationwide Building Society, a UK building society * Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company, an insurance company based in Columbus, Ohio, US * Nationwide Asset Services, a debt settlement company in the US * ...

'' investigated the case and concluded that Ridgewell's account couldn't be true, as there was not enough time for the events to happen in an Underground stop that took place in less than two minutes.

Ridgewell

Ridgewell was involved in a number of controversial high-profile cases in the early 1970s, until the "Tottenham Court Road Two" were acquitted in 1973. He was then moved into a department investigating mailbag theft where he worked with two criminals to split material stolen from mailbags. He hid the profits of his crimes in five bank accounts, one in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 443,037 inhabitants, the urban area 1.315 mill ...

and a bank deposit box. He stole over £1m sterling (approx £4m sterling in 2021). Although just a detective sergeant, he owned property and businesses. Ridgewell was convicted of theft in 1980 and sentenced to seven years.

Convictions overturned

In July 2021 Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson were acquitted at the

Royal Courts of Justice The Royal Courts of Justice, commonly called the Law Courts, is a court building in Westminster which houses the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, High Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales. The High Court also sits on circui ...

. The two other members of the Stockwell Six who were convicted had not then been traced. In November 2021 Texo Johnson‘s conviction was also quashed by the Court of Appeal. Sir

Julian Flaux Sir Julian Martin Flaux (born 11 May 1955) is the Chancellor of the High Court. Early life Flaux was born on 11 May 1955 and was educated at the King's School, Worcester. He studied law at Worcester College, Oxford, graduating as an Oxford ...

sat with Mr Justice Linden and Mr Justice Wall and said "It is most unfortunate that it has taken nearly 50 years to rectify the injustice suffered by these appellants.". He added "These appeals are allowed and the convictions are quashed." The governor of

Ford prison HM Prison Ford (informally known as Ford Open Prison) is a Category D men's prison, located at Ford, in West Sussex, England, near Arundel and Littlehampton. The prison is operated by His Majesty's Prison Service. Air Force and Navy use The ...

asked Ridgewell why he had committed crimes, to which Ridgewell replied "I just went bent".

Aftermath

Cleveland Davidson said after the hearing: "For 50 years, it affected me … I haven’t been the same. My family didn’t believe me, no one believed me because they thought ‘well, you must’ve done something’. We just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time with a bad, corrupt police officer." He described Ridgewell as a "corrupt and wicked and evil police officer". In November 2021,

Lucy D'Orsi Lucy Clare D'Orsi, (''née'' Copson; born December 1969) is a British police officer. Since March 2021, she has served as chief constable of British Transport Police. She was deputy assistant commissioner in the Metropolitan Police Service, ...

, the British Transport Police chief constable, apologised to black community in the United Kingdom "for the trauma suffered by the British African community through the criminal actions" of Ridgewell, adding that "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", and said his actions did "not define the BTP of today".

References

{{Reflist 1972 in England 1972 in British law 2021 in England 2021 in British law Court of Appeal (England and Wales) cases Overturned convictions in England