Men falsely imprisoned by corrupt, racist policeman have convictions overturned

Two British Rail workers have theft convictions posthumously quashed after they were jailed on word of corrupt police officer (Picture: PA)

Two men who were framed for a crime they didn’t commit by a corrupt, racist police officer have had their convictions posthumously overturned.

Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet were convicted of theft and jailed following false evidence given by British Transport Police officer Derek Ridgewell.

They died with their convictions hanging over their heads after Detective Sergeant Ridgewell accused them of theft from a site he later admitted stealing from.

But their convictions from 1977 were quashed at the Court of Appeal in London on Thursday after the cases were referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) – a body that investigates miscarriages of justice.

Corrupt detective Derek Ridgewell accused Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet of stealing goods he had robbed

Mr Mehmet, who died in 2021, and Mr Peterkin, who died in 1991, were both sentenced to nine months in prison in 1977 over the theft of parcels from the Bricklayers Arms goods depot in south London, where they worked.

They said the items found in their possession had been planted and any admissions said to have been made by them had been fabricated by the police.

In 1980, Ridgewell was jailed for seven years for stealing property worth £364,000 from the same site, while his colleagues Detective Constable Douglas Ellis and Detective Constable Alan Keeling were sentenced to six and two years respectively.

Ridgwell, who also served in the South Rhodesian, now Zimbabwean, police force – was involved in a number of high-profile and controversial cases in the early 1970s.

In recent years, a series of investigations into his ‘historical racist and corrupt practices’ have led to several convictions being overturned, including for members of the so-called Oval Four and Stockwell Six.

He died of a heart attack in prison in 1982, aged 37.

Following Thursday’s ruling the BTP apologised to Mr Peterkin and Mr Mehmet’s families for the ‘trauma’ caused by Ridgewell, and acknowledged the ‘systemic racism’ which has played a role in the force’s culture.

Henry Blaxland KC, representing the two men, told the court a ‘systemic failure’ by the BTP to investigate prosecutions linked to Ridgewell led to ‘lamentable delays’ in clearing their names.

The barrister said the ‘perfectly respectable and entirely innocent’ pair were ‘fitted up’ by a ‘dishonest, corrupt and racist’ police officer.

Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Garnham and Mr Justice Andrew Baker, said there was ‘considerable force’ in Mr Blaxland’s criticism of the BTP.

‘We express our regret that so many years have passed… We cannot turn back the clock but we can quash these convictions,’ the senior judge said.

Speaking outside court, Regu Saliah, Mr Mehmet’s son, said his father’s conviction ‘left a traumatic legacy that stayed with him his whole life’ and his imprisonment ‘left myself and my mother penniless and homeless’ while Ridgewell ‘was kept in his position of power where he continued to victimise families like ours’.

He added: ‘We hope that this will prompt a new law that following police officers receiving a prison sentence there is an automatic independent review of the cases that they were involved in so that no other family goes through what we had to go through.’

Janice Peterkin and Lileith Jones, Mr Peterkin’s daughters, said: ‘We cleared our dad’s name and we got justice at last for our dad.

‘He didn’t deserve to spend time in prison. He was a law-abiding citizen and a family man.

‘Basil was unfairly targeted and framed by the ex-policeman Ridgewell, who was clearly racist and corrupt.’

BTP Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said she is ‘sincerely sorry for the trauma suffered’ through the ‘criminal actions’ of Ridgewell during his time with the force in the 1960s and 1970s.

She said it is ‘of regret that we did not act sooner to end his criminalisation’ which led to the conviction of ‘innocent people’.

‘This is simply inexcusable and is something that my colleagues and I are appalled by,’ she said.

‘We cannot undo the past but we can learn from it. This is an important and sombre point of reflection in our history.

‘BTP is committed to combating racism, which includes Afriphobia, which led to these historic cases that targeted African youths and destroyed lives.’