The Court of Appeal has overturned the 1976 convictions of Christopher Poulter and the late Kevin Biggs for allegedly stealing 13 mailbags after fresh evidence linked the case to corrupt BTP detective Derek Ridgewell. The Criminal Cases Review Commission referred the appeals following revelations about Ridgewell, who was jailed in 1980 for large-scale thefts and accused of framing young Black men. The rulings make Poulter and Biggs the 14th and 15th people to have convictions quashed due to Ridgewell's misconduct.
Court Overturns 1976 Mailbag Convictions After Link To Corrupt BTP Detective
Det Sgt Derek Ridgewell was responsible for several racist miscarriages of justice [BBC]
The Court of Appeal has quashed the 1976 convictions of Christopher Poulter and the late Kevin Biggs, who were found guilty of stealing 13 mailbags from a railway wagon at Clapham goods yard in south London. New evidence linked their case to corrupt British Transport Police (BTP) detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell.
At the original trial at Inner London Crown Court, three officers—including Detective Sergeant Ridgewell—testified that they had seen the two men remove the bags and drive away. Poulter, then 21, was sentenced to one year in prison; Biggs, then 18, was sent to borstal. Biggs died in 2004.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred the appeals earlier this year after fresh material emerged about Ridgewell’s conduct. Ridgewell was jailed in 1980 for seven years after being convicted of stealing goods valued at more than £1 million; subsequent inquiries found that he had framed young Black men for crimes he had committed himself.
Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Linden, allowed the appeals and quashed the convictions. The court said the two appeals should originally have been heard alongside those of another defendant, Stephen Simmons, but at the time it had not been possible to locate Poulter or relatives of Biggs. Simmons’s conviction was quashed in 2018.
Jenny Wiltshire, a solicitor who has represented many of Ridgewell’s victims, described the delay in identifying those affected as "a disgrace". She said the BTP knew as early as four years after the men's convictions that the officer whose evidence put them behind bars was corrupt, but failed to act promptly. "As a result of this inaction, Christopher Poulter has lived the majority of his life as a convicted criminal. Kevin Biggs died as one," she said.
The quashings make Poulter and Biggs the 14th and 15th people to have convictions overturned because of Ridgewell’s misconduct. Ridgewell died in prison in 1982, aged 37. The British Transport Police has been approached for comment.
Background: The CCRC and later BTP investigations have been tracing convictions that relied on Ridgewell's testimony, prompting a wider review of historic cases and a number of successful appeals.
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