Full Breakdown
Convictions Quashed After Decades-Long Miscarriage of Justice Involving Corrupt Officer
By Drooid · · How we work
Core Event: Appeals Lead to Overturned Convictions
The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred the cases of Christopher Poulter and Kevin Biggs to the Court of Appeal after new evidence emerged about former police officer Michael Ridgewell. At Inner London Crown Court, Lord Justice Edis, together with Mr Justice Lavender and Mr Justice Linden, ruled that the appeals should have been heard alongside a previous case involving Stephen Simmons and ordered that the convictions of Poulter and Biggs be quashed.
Background & Context: Ridgewell’s Corrupt Testimony and Prior Overturns
Ridgewell, who was sentenced to seven years in 1980 for stealing goods valued at more than £1 million, later admitted to framing young Black men for crimes he committed himself. A British Transport Police (BTP) investigation that traced convictions based on Ridgewell’s evidence identified Poulter and Biggs as the 14th and 15th individuals whose convictions were overturned because of his misconduct. A third man, Stephen Simmons, had his conviction quashed in 2018.
Official Statements & Responses
Lord Justice Edis noted that the appeals should have been heard together with Simmons’s case but that locating Poulter and Biggs’s relatives had previously been impossible. Solicitor Jenny Wiltshire, who represents many of Ridgewell’s victims, described the delay in BTP’s action as a “disgrace” and emphasized that the force had known of Ridgewell’s corruption within four years of the original convictions but had taken decades to act. BTP has been approached for comment but has not responded.
Impact and Significance
The court’s decision restores the legal status of Poulter and Biggs after they spent the majority of their lives under wrongful convictions; Poulter has lived most of his adult life as a convicted criminal, while Biggs died before the appeal was resolved. The case underscores systemic failures in policing and highlights the CCRC’s role in correcting historic injustices.
Data & Statistics
- Ridgewell’s 1980 theft: goods worth > £1 million.
- Original sentence for Ridgewell: seven years, died in prison in 1982 at age 37.
- Convictions overturned: 14th and 15th linked to Ridgewell’s misconduct.
- Prior overturn: Stephen Simmons in 2018.
- Poulter’s original sentence: one year; Biggs was sent to borstal.