Two men convicted in 1976 of stealing mailbags from a wagon in Clapham goods yard, London, have had their convictions quashed around 50 years later. The Court of Appeal exonerates Christopher Poulter and Kevin Biggs after new evidence emerges that links their wrongful arrest and prosecution to a corrupt police officer.
Poulter was 21 and Biggs was 18 when they were convicted in 1976 of taking 13 mailbags. Biggs has died, so he does not see the outcome, while Poulter is also reported as having died in 2004. The outlets agree on the basics of the case, including the location, the number of mailbags, the conviction date, and the central role attributed to police corruption. They differ mainly in emphasis: one outlet frames the decision around “Britain’s most corrupt cop,” while others focus more on the Court of Appeal’s use of new evidence to overturn the convictions.
