Innocent victim of Britain's most bent cop bids to fulfil 50-year quest for justice

Innocent victim of Britain's most bent cop bids to fulfil 50-year quest for justice EXCLUSIVE: Oval Four victim Winston Trew today demanded a change in legislation which would see the automatic reviews of cases involving police officers later found to have engaged in serious misconduct When Black Power campaigners supporting Winston Trew attended a rally in 1974 in a desperate bid to clear his name, he was unable to attend. Instead he was locked in Wormwood Scrubs prison, the innocent victim of one of Britain's worst miscarriages of justice. Mr Trew, then aged just 22, was one of four black men - known as the Oval Four - who wrongly spent time behind bars after being fitted up by British Transport Police's Det Sgt Derek Ridgewell. But next month Mr Trew will return to Lambeth Town Hall - where the 1974 "Cause For Concern" protest was held "to show solidarity with the victims of police muggers" - to fulfil a 50-year quest for an end to police corruption. He will take to the stage to launch a campaign for the Government to introduce "Trew's Law", new legislation which would trigger automatic reviews of cases involving police officers later found to have engaged in serious misconduct. Mr Trew, now 76, spent more than 40 years trying to overturn his conviction and says it has blighted his life. But he said he hopes his legacy will help others who were wrongfully convicted on the word of corrupt officers. He said: "I don't want anyone to go through what I went through. It put me on a path I never thought I'd be travelling. Even if you're innocent, you have to prove you're innocent. "At the time I was arrested I was a member of a Black Power organisation called the Fasimbas. I was in prison but they organised the rally with the Black Panther Movement and other organisations. "It's aim was to spread news around Brixton and London and expose Ridgewell for the rotten fella he was. I obviously couldn't attend, but now I can stand in the same place and try to end miscarriages of justice caused by police corruption. It feels like I'm fulfilling history." Mr Trew was jailed for attempted theft and assaulting police in 1972, but maintained his innocence and said he was “fitted up” by Det Sgt Ridgewell. He was arrested in 1972 with three other black men at Oval Tube station in South London accused of stealing handbags. Mr Trew, Sterling Christie, and George Griffiths, along with Constantine “Omar” Boucher, were nicked by a police unit who accused them of stealing bags. They were beaten while in custody and after a five-week trial found guilty of assaulting police and attempted theft. All four were sentenced to two years in jail. The term was reduced to eight months on appeal and the convictions It was not until 2019 that the Court of Appeal finally quashed Mr Trew's conviction. He said: "They used violence against us, we did not commit those crimes. But that horrible past has turned into a bright future. I want that to be my legacy. I want people to know that although this young man was wrongfully convicted, he used the rest of his life fighting against wrongful convictions, not just for himself, but for others too." Det Sgt Ridgewell, who died in prison aged just 37, is thought to have framed dozens of innocent men in a racist campaign of corruption during the 1970s. Also speaking at the event on September 10 will be Jeffrey Campbell, the son of Errol Campbell, who died in 2004 having appealed unsuccessfully against his 1978 conviction for theft and conspiracy to steal from the Bricklayers Arms. Ridgewell led the case against Mr Campbell and several others, but along with colleagues Det Const Douglas Ellis and Det Const Alan Keeling, later pleaded guilty to stealing from the same goods depot. Mr Campbell's co-defendants Basil Peterkin and Saliah Mehmet were also sent to prison in 1977 for robbing the British Rail depot of an estimated £30,000. They also died as guilty men but last year the Court of Appeal was told they were convicted on the evidence of the "dishonest, corrupt and racist" officer. The men protested their innocence for their entire lives before Mr Peterkin died aged 51 in August 1991 and Mr Mehmet passed away aged 75 in August 2021. Their convictions were posthumously overturned because Ridgewell's "dishonest" behaviour had undermined the safety of the convictions. Speaking about the event on September 10, Matt Foot, solicitor and Co-Director of APPEAL, said: “We look forward to launching the campaign for Trew’s Law. Many families have gone through decades of hell because there was no automatic review of Ridgewell’s cases. It’s high time we changed the law to stop this happening to anyone else." Det Sgt Ridgwell earned the moniker of "Britain's most bent copper" after his reign of dishonesty was exposed during which he stitched-up more than a dozen innocent men in a racist campaign of corruption during the 1970s.. Last year the BTP bowed to pressure after a Mirror probe revealed a "flawed" investigation into corrupt Det Sgt Ridgewell stretched to just nine pages. Ridgewell, who died in jail aged 37, made millions with gangs after framing mostly Black victims in London, including the Stockwell Six and Oval Four. Cops claimed they had found all his victims, but since then at least four more innocent men have had their cases referred to the Court of Appeal. Last year the BTP announced it was "reviewing records" into Ridgwell's "corrupt practices" and looking for "officers who were associated with Ridgewell or may have assisted him in his criminal activity". They also said "additional resources" have been ploughed into the investigation. The true extent of Det Sgt Ridgewell's criminality and how he was finally brought to justice was only revealed after his death. Glasgow-born Ridgewell moved to Bromley, South East London, as a boy and joined British Transport Police in his teens in Paddington in 1964. A year later he joined the Rhodesian Police but quit within weeks. On returning home he gave interviews to TV and newspapers condemning the way black citizens were being treated there. But after joining the BTP he started framing dozens of young, mostly black men for "mugging" people on the Underground and beat them up if they resisted. In February 1972, he nicked four men at Waterloo station. The case was thrown out on the basis that Ridgewell's evidence could not be believed, but he was not punished. Ridgewell was moved to a department investigating mailbag theft - where he teamed up with criminals to split the profits of stolen post. He also helped villains steal lorry loads of goods from the Bricklayers Arms Goods Depot in Bermondsey, South East London. The cop and his cronies would fill a vehicle with stolen property overnight for the crooks to drive away the next day. The proceeds of his crimes are believed to be around £4million in today's money. They were hidden away in five bank accounts, including one in Zurich in a safety deposit box. Despite taking home the wage of a Detective Sergeant, he owned property and businesses. Ridgewell was nailed in 1978 thanks to a major transport police probe. When he was eventually caught, along with other corrupt officers, Ridgewell hired Bernie Perkoff, a top lawyer used by many gangland figures, but was convicted of conspiracy to rob and jailed for seven years in 1980. He died in his cell of a heart attack in 1982, aged just 37.