‘I saw Ricky in every face sitting there waiting’ – Posthumous degree awarded to Ricky Reel
Ricky had vanished in October 1997 after a night out with friends in what his mother believed was a racist attack in Kingston-upon-Thames in Southwest London.
Mother Sukhdev and father Balwant accepted the award on behalf of Ricky.
A heartbroken mum said she saw her son’s face in every person sitting in the room waiting for their degree as she accepted an honorary degree for her son.
In 1997 Brunel University student Ricky Reel was found dead shortly after he was attacked. 26-years later, on Monday, July 17 Brunel awarded his parents an honorary degree for their son.
Ricky had vanished in October 1997 after a night out with friends in what his mother believed was a racist attack in Kingston-upon-Thames in Southwest London. His three friends were able to regroup but Ricky never did. His body was found in the water a week later.
Ricky’s family attended the graduation ceremony, held in the Indoor Athletics Centre on Brunel’s campus in Uxbridge. His mother Sukhdev and father Balwant accepted the award.
He was awarded a Bachelor of Science Aegrotat in Computing and Business. The word ‘Aegrotat’ means an award without classification (so not a first, 2:1, etc.) conferred upon a student who fulfilled requirements for graduation but was prevented from completing their studies.
Ricky’s mum Sukhdev spoke to Birmingham Live. She said:
She said: “We received Ricky’s degree with lots of different emotions. My eyes were looking for him. I saw Ricky in every face sitting there waiting for their degree. I was happy for them.
“I cried, Ricky should have been there to collect his own degree for which he worked so hard and I felt pride too, at last we were able to fulfil his desire.”
A Brunel University London spokesperson said: “Ricky sadly passed away while studying with us in the 1990s. It was an honour for us to welcome Ricky’s parents to accept his Bachelor of Science award on his behalf, and for us to all applaud Ricky’s achievements.”
The Met Police is reinvestigating the death of a 20-year-old student whose body was found in the River Thames 25 years ago.
Ricky Reel was found dead after going missing from a group of friends on a night out in Kingston-upon-Thames on October 15, 1997.
Two white youths had attacked Mr Reel and his friends, a group of young Asian men, before he went missing.
An original police investigation concluded the 20-year-old fell into the river, but his family have long claimed there were failings in the investigation.
Mr Reel’s mother, Sukhdev Reel, believes he was the victim of a racist attack.
The force said the reinvestigation of the case came after its top officer Sir Mark Rowley met with the family on January 11.
“The Met’s Major Inquiries Specialist Casework team has re-examined the case and is now looking more closely at certain lines of enquiry from the original investigation,” it said.
“These lines of enquiry are being followed up with fresh eyes and the benefit of modern technology so we can explore every possible avenue in the hope of providing answers to Ricky’s family.”
Mrs Reel said she hoped the police “under the leadership of the new Commissioner can finally approach this case with an open mind and make every effort to obtain justice for my son”.
An open verdict was recorded at the Brunel University student’s 1999 inquest.
MP for Hayes and Harlington, John McDonnell, told the BBC: “This will be a test for the Met on whether there is evidence of real change in its attitude and behaviour towards the Asian community and wider society.
“Our hope is that this time around no stone will be left unturned in the search for truth and justice for Ricky Reel.”
No one was ever arrested or charged with Ricky’s death and his mother says this was down to institutional racism. Now that the case is being re-examined, Sukhdev Reel says “actions speak louder than words”, as she talks about the toll that campaigning has taken on her health.
Play Video – Ricky Reel’s mum: ‘I still have nightmares’ (to play video see link to original article at the top of this page)
Police say they will re-examine the death of a student whose body was found in the River Thames 25 years ago, after more than two decades of campaigning by his family.
Ricky Reel was just 20 years old when he went missing on a night out with friends on 15 October 1997 in Kingston upon Thames.
Ricky, who was south Asian, had been with a group of friends when they were racially attacked by two white men.
He and his friends all ran in different directions to escape the abusers, but whilst the rest of his pals made it back home safely, Ricky was never seen again.
Seven days later, his body would be found at the bottom of the River Thames.
No one was ever arrested or charged with his death, and his mother Sukhdev Reel says this was down to institutional racism.
“My race, my colour, played a big part in Ricky’s investigation, simply because I’m an Asian woman,” says Mrs Reel.
Ricky’s mother says that “from day one” she had to fight for justice for her son as she claims that rather than investigating the tragic death of their son, they instead investigated the family.
‘They were stereotyping’
Mrs Reel says despite friends telling the police they had been subjected to an attack, they initially ignored these lines of inquiry, and tried to place blame on the family.
She claims they suggested he had ‘run away from home’ because he ‘may have been gay’ or escaped to ‘avoid an arranged marriage’.
“They were stereotyping and pointing fingers at my race.
“They carried out this so-called investigation with racist views in their mind,” Mrs Reel claims.
Eventually, the police would conclude that Ricky had probably died after falling into the river whilst trying to urinate.
However, a jury inquest into Ricky’s death in 1999 would return an open verdict and according to Ricky’s mum, it criticised police for not gathering enough evidence, or properly following other lines of inquiries.
“I have been fighting for the last 25 years,” says Ricky’s mother.
Image:Ricky’s mother Sukhdev Reel
‘I lost a lot of family time’
Battling through her tears, she explained the toll that her son’s death, and subsequent treatment by police, has had on her family.
“Campaigning for 25 years has really deteriorated my health because, for the last 25 years, there hasn’t been a night where I have slept throughout the night.
“I lost a lot of family time. I missed lots of family birthdays, I missed my [other] children’s upbringing.”
“But I had to do what I had to do. Because my children, my family needed to know what happened,” she says.
The decades spent campaigning may have finally paid off.
After hearing reports that the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, had made a genuine commitment to reform the police and acknowledge its failings, Mrs Reel called its bluff, demanding a meeting to discuss her son’s case.
She met Commissioner Rowley on 11 January and police have now agreed they will re-investigate the case.
‘Actions speak louder than words’
In a statement, a spokesperson for the Met said: “The details of this meeting remain private.
“The Met’s Major Inquiries Specialist Casework team has re-examined the case and is now looking more closely at certain lines of inquiry from the original investigation.
“These lines of inquiry are being followed up with fresh eyes and the benefit of modern technology so we can explore every possible avenue in the hope of providing answers to Ricky’s family.”
But Mrs Reel says “actions speak louder than words” as she explains she has been “promised” lots of things in the past.
“Time will tell,” she says.
“He promised us a lot of things and I hope he does. So that finally, I can put my feet up and say; ‘good, I’ve done it. I can look at my son’s picture and say, Ricky, I have given you what I promised’.”
Image caption,The family of Ricky Reel believe he was murdered in a racially motivated attack
The death of a student whose body was found in the River Thames 25 years ago is to be re-investigated by detectives.
Ricky Reel, 20, was found dead a week after he went missing on 15 October 1997 while on a night out in Kingston upon Thames in south-west London.
On the night he went missing, two white youths had attacked Mr Reel and his friends, a group of young Asian men.
The Met Police said the inquiry would be looked at with “fresh eyes” to “explore every possible avenue”.
As his friends fought the two attackers off, Mr Reel disappeared.
An open verdict was recorded at the Brunel University student’s inquest in 1999.
His mother Sukhdev Reel told BBC London the pain “is very raw and still the same as it was 25 years ago”.
“People say time eases the pain, but for us it hasn’t and in fact it is growing more every day.”
Image caption,The family say they need to be able to feel they have justice for Ricky
On Tuesday the Met Police said its major inquiries specialist casework team was re-examining the case, looking at certain lines of inquiry from the original investigation.
“These lines of inquiry are being followed up with fresh eyes and the benefit of modern technology… in the hope of providing answers to Ricky’s family,” a force spokesman said.
Mr Reel’s family have spent years campaigning for answers, including his mother who believes he was the victim of a racist attack.
Police said there was no evidence officers had targeted family members associated with the campaign, or the campaign itself.
Image caption,Ricky Reel’s mother, Sukhdev Reel, has spent years campaigning
Mrs Reel said she hoped under that, under the new leadership of Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley, the Met Police could “finally approach this case with an open mind and make every effort to obtain justice for my son”.
She added: “When dealing with racism and injustice, the litmus test is always in their actions and not in promises.
The MP for Hayes and Harlington, John McDonnell, said: “This will be a test for the Met on whether there is evidence of real change in its attitude and behaviour towards the Asian community and wider society.
“Our hope is that this time around no stone will be left unturned in the search for truth and justice for Ricky Reel,” he added.
Detectives are reopening the investigation into the death of a student whose body was found in the Thames in 1997.
Ricky Reel was 20 when he went missing while on a night out.
The Met says the inquiry will be looked at with ‘fresh eyes’.
The development has been welcomed by Ricky’s mum who has spent the last 25 years campaigning for answers.
“I am glad that police offered us a meeting and listened to our concerns and know why we asked for an investigation,” said Ricky Reel’s mother, Sukhdev Reel.
“He [Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley] told me he read my book so all the mistakes that were made by the police he’s aware of, and also we told him how we feel, and he has agreed to carry out a fresh investigation and look at all the areas as well that need to be forensically tested.
“So let’s hope it’s a fresh investigation and that will conclude how he could have died and who killed him,” Sukhdev Reel added.
CCTV of Kingston town centre where Asian student Ricky Reel and three friends were on a night out when they were racially abusedCredit: PA
Ricky vanished after he and his friends, who were South Asian, were subjected to a racist attack by two white men.
Sukhdev Reel claims the racial line of inquiry was never properly investigated and prejudicial police attitudes hampered the investigation.
“I am begging for justice now. All I want is someone to tell me who killed my son. He was a peace-loving boy so why did someone take his life away because of his colour?” she added.
A spokesperson for the Met said: “The Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley met Ricky’s family on 11 January. The details of this meeting remain private.
“The Met’s Major Inquiries Specialist Casework team has re-examined the case and is now looking more closely at certain lines of enquiry from the original investigation.
“These lines of enquiry are being followed up with fresh eyes and the benefit of modern technology so we can explore every possible avenue in the hope of providing answers to Ricky’s family.”
Premiered Jan 29, 2023 – After being chased by racists through Kingston town centre, Ricky Reel was found dead in the River Thames in October 1997. His family have struggled to convince the Metropolitan Police to investigate his death for many years. Sukdhev Reel was then later informed that SpyCops from the Special Demonstration Squad had spied on the family campaign. Lowkey speaks to the grieving mother still struggling for justice for her son almost 20 years later…
October 2022 marked the 25th Anniversary of Lakhvinder ‘Ricky’ Reel’s death.
Ricky, a 20-year-old student, and his friends were the victims of a racist attack in London. His body was later pulled from the Thames.
Ricky’s mother, Sukhdev Reel says “Ricky had everything to live for. He was on a work placement in Central London, doing a Computer Science Course at Brunel; he had good friends and a loving family. He loved life and had his future mapped out. His life was cut short cruelly, and senselessly.”
25 years on, after a number of police failings, nobody has been held to account.
UNISON member Sukhdev has released a book detailing the lengths the family were forced to go through in an effort to collect evidence. The book also catalogues the biased assumptions of the police investigating the tragedy, and the family’s continued struggle for justice.
UNISON fully supports this campaign and we urge members to help get justice for Ricky.
The event was well attended and there was an impressive panel of speakers including Suresh Grover, John McDonnell, Brian Richardson, Helen Steel and Deborah Hobson.
1:30
Justice For Ricky Reel 