Cleared, ‘Oval Four’ arrested by crooked officer 47 years ago
A GROUP of men dubbed the ‘Oval Four’ finally had their names cleared yesterday – nearly 50 years after they were wrongly convicted on the evidence of a corrupt police officer.
Winston Trew, Sterling Christie, both now 69, and George Griffiths, now 67, were arrested along with a fourth man at Oval Underground station in south London in 1972 by police who accused them of stealing handbags.
The unit that arrested them was led by Detective Sergeant Derek Ridgewell, who was later jailed for seven years for conspiracy to steal.
The Oval Four, as they became known, were convicted of attempted theft and assaulting police, and Mr Christie was also found guilty of theft, following a trial at the Old Bailey. All four were jailed for two years, later reduced to eight months.
Ridgewell was involved in several high-profile and controversial investigations in the early 1970s, which led to calls for the Home Secretary to open an inquiry into his cases.
Mr Trew, Mr Christie and Mr Griffiths had their convictions overturned by the Court of Appeal in London after a referral by the Criminal
Cases Review Commission (CCRC) earlier this year.
Speaking outside the Royal Courts of Justice, Mr Trew urged anyone who might have been wrongfully convicted as a result of Ridgewell’s misconduct to challenge their convictions, saying: ‘They should come forward and contact the CCRC. If you are innocent, don’t give up.’
The conviction of the final member of the Oval Four – Constantine Boucher – was not referred to the court because the CCRC was unable to trace him. Ridgewell, who had previously served in the South Rhodesian – now Zimbabwean – police force, died of a heart attack in prison in 1982 at the age of 37.