Jenny Wiltshire on Court of Appeal quashing of clients’ 50-year-old convictions

Hickman & Rose’s Head of Serious and General Crime Jenny Wiltshire has been quoted in the media following the quashing of her clients Christopher Poulter and Kevin Biggs’ 50-year-old criminal convictions for theft.

Christopher and Kevin were found guilty of stealing mail bags from a south London goods yard in 1976. The case against them was based on testimony from police officer Derek Ridgewell, who in 1980 was himself convicted of a similar offence.

The Court of Appeal has heard a steady flow of appeals from Ridgewell’s victims. Christopher and Kevin are the 14th and 15th to have their convictions quashed.

Jenny has represented most of the Ridgewell victims who have had their names cleared. She said: “It is good news that Christopher Poulter’s and Kevin Bigg’s names are now cleared. But today’s justice has been far too long coming.

“It is now half a century since these two men were found guilty of a crime they did not commit. The British Transport Police knew for certain that the police officer whose evidence sent them to jail was corrupt just four years after they were convicted…and probably a lot earlier.

“The BTP did nothing at the time; and have only relatively recently started to take this issue seriously. As a result of this inaction, Christopher Poulter has lived the majority of his life as a convicted criminal. Kevin Biggs died as one.

“While it is a welcome development, today’s vindication comes far too late, especially for Kevin who died with the stigma of a wrongful conviction.

“It is a disgrace that the British Transport Police took so long to start tracking down Derek Ridgewell’s victims. These two innocent men may be the14th and 15th Ridgewell victims to have their names cleared. I don’t think they will be the last.”

Christopher and Kevins’ cases were referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission. They were represented at the Court of Appeal by Steven Powells KC of Matrix Chambers.

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