A CORRUPT Scots cop landed 11 innocent men behind bars after they were framed in a stitch-up.
Derek Ridgewell, who worked for the British Transport Police, was nicked over a series of infamous miscarriages of justice in London.
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Ridgewell was born in Glasgow and moved to Bromley, South East London, with his family.
He joined the British Transport Police at the age of 19 and was promoted to detective sergeant in 1971.
A trio of black men, along with three friends, were arrested while travelling from Stockwell station in 1972.
They went on trial accused of trying to rob Ridgewell – despite their admission that cops had threatened them with violence.
Four of the group, later referred to as the Stockwell Six, were cleared in 2021 after it emerged the detective had framed them.
One man was acquitted at trial and one has not been traced.
The cop also arrested four men in 1972, known as the Oval Four, for allegedly stealing passengers’ handbags.
They were each jailed for eight months but their convictions were overturned in 2019 and 2020.
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On Thursday, two men who were jailed in 1977 for stealing from a train depot also had their convictions quashed after their cases were referred by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC).
Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet, who have both since died, were framed by Ridgewell, who led the investigation.
He pleaded guilty three years later to stealing £364,000 of property from the same depot.
The families of Peterkin and Mehmet called for a reform of the law so that when a police officer is sent to prison, there is automatically an independent review of their files.
Regu Saliah, the eldest son of Mehmet, told The Guardian: “He lived as a victim of DS Ridgewell, the corrupt and racist police officer, for over 43 years. What he was put through those years left a traumatic legacy that stayed with him his whole life, unfortunately.”
Peterkin’s daughters, Janice Peterkin and Lileith Jones, added: “He didn’t deserve to spend time in prison. He was a law-abiding citizen and a family man.
“Basil was unfairly targeted and framed by the ex-policeman Ridgewell, who was clearly racist and corrupt.”
The officer was finally arrested in 1978, after being grassed up by a crime family he was involved in.
The corrupt cop was convicted of conspiracy to rob and jailed for seven years in 1980.
He died of a heart attack in prison in 1982 at the age of 37.
In a statement regarding the outcome of the Court of Appeal, British Transport Police Chief Constable Lucy D’Orsi said: “I am sincerely sorry for the trauma suffered by the British African community through the criminal actions of former police officer DS Derek Ridgewell who worked in BTP during the 1960s and ’70s.
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“In particular, it is of regret that we did not act sooner to end his criminalisation of British Africans, which led to the conviction of innocent people.
“This is simply inexcusable and is something that my colleagues and I are appalled by.”
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