A fourth member of the so-called “Stockwell Six”, who was convicted for allegedly attempting to rob a corrupt police officer nearly 50 years ago, has had his conviction quashed by the Court of Appeal.

Texo Johnson, now aged 67 and who lives in the US, was with five other young black men who were all arrested on the London Underground during a night out while travelling from Stockwell station, south London, on 18 February 1972.

The group of friends were put on trial at the Old Bailey, largely on the word of British Transport Police officer Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell.

They all pleaded not guilty and told jurors police officers had lied and subjected them to violence and threats.

All except one were convicted of trying to rob Ridgewell, who was in plain clothes at the time, and sent to jail or Borstal, a youth detention centre.

Their convictions were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Mr Johnson was cleared by the Court of Appeal at a hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice in central London on Tuesday.

Sir Julian Flaux, sitting with Lord Justice Dingemans and Lady Justice Andrews, said it is “most unfortunate that it has taken nearly 50 years to rectify the injustice suffered”.

Judges cleared the names of three of his friends – Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson – earlier this year.

Another member of the group, Ronald De’Souza, was also convicted at the time, but a sixth man, Everett Mullins was acquitted.

Ridgewell, who previously served in the South Rhodesian, now Zimbabwean, police force, was involved in a number of high-profile and controversial cases in the early 1970s, culminating in the 1973 acquittals of the “Tottenham Court Road Two” – two young Jesuits studying at Oxford University.

He was then moved into a department investigating mailbag theft, where he joined up with two criminals with whom he split the profits of stolen mailbags.

Ridgewell was eventually caught and jailed for seven years, dying of a heart attack in prison in 1982 at the age of 37.

In recent years his corruption has led to eight wrongful convictions being overturned by the Court of Appeal, including that of Stephen Simmons in January 2018, whose 1976 conviction for stealing mailbags was quashed.

In December 2019, three members of the Oval Four – Winston Trew, Sterling Christie and George Griffith – had their convictions for stealing handbags at Oval Underground station in 1972, overturned.

The fourth man, Constantine “Omar” Boucher had his name cleared in March 2020, prompting calls for a wholesale review of all cases linked to Ridgewell.

Jenny Wiltshire, of Hickman & Rose Solicitors, who represented Mr Johnson, said she hoped “there aren’t other victims who had to yet to achieve the justice they deserve”.

“Texo has lived his entire adult life with this hanging over him and time has not lessened his ordeal,” she said. “He has said that the pain of what happened still lingers and that it is something he will take to his grave.”

She added: “This didn’t need to be the case. The British Transport Police knew about DS Ridgewell’s corruption in 1973 but it took until this year for the force to undertake any review of this officer’s cases.

“Considering this huge delay – and the potential it created for material to get lost – it is unsurprising that the force’s available records have revealed no further mischief to be unravelled.

“I sincerely hope that the police’s internal review of DS Ridgwell’s actions was as thorough as it could have been and that there aren’t other victims who had to yet to achieve the justice they deserve.”

Source: Read Full Article