Who? Jenny Wiltshire, head of serious and general crime, Hickman & Rose, London.
Why is she in the news? Represented Courtney Harriot, Paul Green and Cleveland Davidson, who were convicted nearly 50 years ago of attempting to rob a British Transport Police (BTP) officer. The Court of Appeal overturned their convictions this month.
Thoughts on the case: ‘My clients were young men when they were convicted on the word of corrupt police officer DS Derek Ridgewell. They are now in their late-60s. The extraordinary, near-50-year delay in achieving justice is particularly shocking when you consider that concerns about Ridgewell were raised as early as 1973, when he featured in a BBC Nationwide programme Cause for Concern. During the 1970s there were repeated calls for the Home Office to investigate his activities but the BTP simply moved Ridgewell sideways to a unit investigating mailbag theft. Even after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal mailbags in 1980 and was sentenced to seven years, the BTP failed to act. It is only relatively recently that we have started to understand the full impact of Ridgewell’s offending. My client Stephen Simmons got the ball rolling with the Criminal Cases Review Commission when he learnt of Ridgewell’s conviction. Mr Simmons had always protested his innocence despite being convicted of mailbag theft in 1976. Now he, together with the “Oval Four” and most recently the “Stockwell Six”, have cleared their names.’