Police to help black students study law in act of contrition

A BURSARY to help black students study law is being set up by the British Transport Police (BTP) in order to make up for the actions of a corrupt detective more than 50 years ago.

The scheme, which will be launched next year, comes after BTP was forced to apologise to a group of men who were wrongfully convicted in 1972 of attempting to rob undercover officer Det Sgt Derek Ridgewell, head of the force’s anti-mugging squad.

Ridgewell – who had served in the Rhodesian Police Force – was linked to a string of miscarriages of justice against young black men and was later convicted of stealing mailbags.

In December 2019, four men – known as the Oval Four – had their convictions quashed for stealing handbags on the London Underground.

Last year another group of his victims

‘It is important to do more than apologise and commit to learning from our past by bringing about real change’

– dubbed the Stockwell Six – had their 1972 convictions quashed on appeal.

Now the force has announced it will use money from the Proceeds of Crime Act to fund a bursary to help a British African student to complete an undergraduate law degree.

Lucy D’orsi, Chief Constable of BTP, said: “Last year we issued an apology for the trauma suffered by the British African community through the criminal actions of former police officer Derek Ridgewell, who worked at BTP in the 1960s and 1970s.

“His inexcusable actions led to the conviction of innocent people and do not define the BTP today.

“It is important to do more than simply apologise and commit to learning from our past.

“We want to bring about real and meaningful change – improving community trust and confidence, whilst investing in future talent.

“This bursary aims to ensure that British African communities are better represented within the UK judicial system, which will benefit us all.”

BTP and the Home Office were warned about Ridgewell in 1973, but failed to act.

Even when he was jailed in 1980, the cases he had been involved in were not re-examined.

Ridgewell died in jail after suffering a heart attack at the age of 37.