Final member of the Stockwell Six cleared after false accusation from corrupt police officer

Independent

17-07-2025

A man wrongfully convicted of attempted robbery has had his name cleared at the Court of Appeal, more than 50 years after being the victim of a racist miscarriage of justice.
Ronald De Souza is the final member of the Stockwell Six to have his conviction quashed, after being accused of trying to rob corrupt British Transport Police officer Det Sgt Derek Ridgewell.
Mr De Souza was jailed for six months for allegedly trying to rob Ridgewell on a night out in south London in 1971, despite telling jurors that officers had subjected him and his co-defendants to violence and threats.
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) reviewed his conviction after previously overturning those of his co-defendants Courtney Harriot, Cleveland Davidson, Texo Johnson and Paul Green in 2021.
The sixth member of the Stockwell Six had been acquitted after it emerged that his reading ability was not good enough for him to have read and understood his own written statement, which had been written in his place by Ridgewell.
Another of Ridgewell's victims, Errol Campbell, had his conviction overturned posthumously on Thursday at the Court of Appeal.
Mr Campbell, who died in 2004, was found guilty of theft and conspiracy to steal in April 1977 and sentenced to a total of 18 months' imprisonment at the Old Bailey in relation to thefts from the Bricklayers Arms Goods Depot, where he was a British Rail employee.
Giving his judgment on Thursday, Lord Justice Holroyde, sitting with Mr Justice Butcher and Mr Justice Wall, said that it was with 'regret' that the court could not undo Mr Campbell's suffering.
Ridgewell led the case against Mr Campbell and several others, but along with colleagues DC Douglas Ellis and DC Alan Keeling, later pleaded guilty to stealing from the same goods depot.