Cleveland Davidson

Year of crime:
1972
Year conviction was overturned:
2021

Cleveland Davidson was one of the “Stockwell Six,” a group of young men who were accused of attempting to rob an officer on the underground. The supposed victim was a police officer named Derek Ridgewell. Ridgewell said he had been accosted by the men on a journey and that one of the men had pulled out a knife. In 1973, the BBC Nationwide programme showed that the events could not have occurred as Ridgewell said. It was later shown that Ridgewell was corrupt. He would confront young black men at underground stations, accuse them of theft, and then attribute incriminating remarks to them. If they resisted he would accuse them of assaulting the police. Ridgewell himself was convicted of theft in 1980, and sentenced to seven years in prison.

View Press (www.bbc.co.uk)

View Press (www.theguardian.com)

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  • Offence: Robbery / burglary
  • Jurisdiction: England & Wales
  • County: Greater London 
  • Ethnicity: Black
  • Gender: M
  • Offence convicted of: Attempted Robbery
  • Year of crime: 1972
  • Year of initial conviction: 1972
  • Year conviction was overturned: 2021
  • CCRC Referral: Y
  • Post Office Case: N
  • Tried with others: N
  • Type of fresh evidence at appeal: Evidence casting doubt on the integrity of police
  • Retrial: N