Nearly five decades after their fathers were wrongfully convicted, the families of Saliah Mehmet and Basil Peterkin finally saw justice on 18 January 2024, when the Court of Appeal quashed the convictions. The two men, both now deceased, had been jailed in 1977 for conspiracy to steal from the Bricklayers Arms depot in south London, where they worked as porters. They always maintained their innocence, but it took almost 47 years for their names to be cleared.
The case centres on Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell, described as one of Britain's most corrupt police officers. Ridgewell, who arrested Mehmet and Peterkin, was himself convicted in 1980 of the same crime – stealing from the depot he was supposed to police. Despite his conviction, the British Transport Police failed to review his arrest record, leaving innocent men in prison. It was only a chance radio call-in about miscarriages of justice that eventually led to the overturning of several convictions.
Mehmet's family received a letter from the Criminal Cases Review Commission in September 2022, informing them that new evidence meant Ridgewell's testimony could no longer be trusted. His wife, Gulser, initially reluctant to reopen old wounds, was persuaded by her sons to pursue the case. The court accepted that Ridgewell's own criminality undermined the evidence he gave at the trials of the so-called 'Oval Four' and 'Stockwell Six' cases.
Mehmet, a Turkish Cypriot who had worked at British Rail for eight years, was jailed for nine months. The conviction ruined his life, echoing the Post Office scandal in its impact on innocent workers. His sons remember him as a hardworking family man who would have worked 24 hours a day if he could. He died of Covid in 2021, never seeing his name cleared.
The case highlights a systemic failure within the justice system, which allowed Ridgewell to thrive in his criminality and then protected him. The BTP should have examined his arrest record immediately after his conviction, but did nothing. The families of the victims hope that this belated justice will serve as a warning against police corruption and indifference.
