Tottenham Three

Three men – Mark Braithwaite, Engin Raghip, and Winston Silcott – who were victims of a miscarriage of justice and spent six years in prison convicted of murdering PC Keith Blakelock during riots at the Broadwater Farm estate, North London, in 1985. Silcott's conviction was quashed in November 1991, and the convictions of the other men were quashed the following month amid fears that vital evidence could have been fabricated. The Court of Appeal expressed ‘profound regret’ at their wrongful conviction. Police in London announced in March 1999 that they would review PC Blakelock's murder as no one else had been prosecuted since the three men's convictions had been overturned.

PC Blakelock was killed while he was trying to protect firemen dealing with a blaze started by rioters on a North London council estate. Following the 1999 inquiry into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, Blakelock's widow wrote to the home secretary, asking for his case to be given the same priority. Police stated that they would re-examine the scientific evidence in the light of new methods of forensic science, including DNA testing, but stressed that the case was not being re-opened, as it had never been declared closed.

Silcott's conviction for the Blakelock murder was quashed after scientific tests showed his confession had been fabricated. However, the two police interrogators who questioned Silcott in the case were cleared of charges of perverting the course of justice at the Old Bailey in 1994.