Sukhdev was privileged to address the FILiA conference on 22.10.22 in Cardiff.
Speaking at the FILiA
Author: justiceforrickyreel
Article Who Killed My Son?
BBC Radio 4 – What Happened to Ricky Reel – October 2022
Good Morning Britain Interview
20th October 2022
BBC London: Ricky Reel: Race ‘played role’ in police’s spying probe, mum claims
BBC London – Published 14 October 2022
The mother of an Asian student who died in 1997 has claimed the police spied on her because of her race.
Sukhdev Reel has spent the past 25 years campaigning for answers surrounding her son Ricky’s death.
The 20-year-old’s body was found in the River Thames, a week after he had been racially abused in London.
The Met Police said there was no evidence officers had targeted family members associated with the campaign, or the campaign itself.
Police have said that the Brunel University student’s death was probably an accident but Mrs Reel claims he was the victim of a racist attack.
An inquest into his death returned an open verdict in 1999.
Mrs Reel learned in 2014 that officers from the Met’s Special Demonstration Squad (SDS) had spied on her when she campaigned for answers around his death.
Speaking to BBC London she called for a fresh investigation into his death.
On the 25th anniversary of his disappearance, she said that when she learned what had happened she felt “unwell and thought I was dead”.
“I came around and they said, ‘don’t worry it’s just collateral intrusion, it’s not spying’.
“Later on when we discovered that we were [being spied on] we asked for proof of that.”
Mrs Reel later saw the unredacted reports but is unable to speak about the contents as she took an undertaking – a legal agreement – barring her from even discussing it.
The information came to light after Mrs Reel was contacted by officers from Operation Hern which is examining the practices of undercover policing.
Both Mrs Reel and her daughter Trish are now core participants in the inquiry, she revealed.
“It is not very nice reading what they were doing to me,” she explained.
“I can’t speak about the reports to my family or children but it’s there.
“It makes me feel very angry, especially because reading the reports as to what they were doing.
“Why were they following me? Why were they listening to everything?
“I did nothing wrong. It was my right to ask for my son’s case to be investigated properly.
‘Second class citizen’
“We have every right to ask for justice – same as everybody else.
“So why was it that I was the only one picked up – asking for justice? Was it because of my colour?
“I know my race, my colour, my religion, my caste all played a big part in this case.
“I was treated like a second class citizen.”
No arrests have been made or charges brought in connection with Ricky’s death.
The Met said its investigation remains open.
Commander Catherine Roper, Specialist Crime, said: “It has been 25 years since Ricky died. My thoughts are with Ricky’s family and the pain they must still feel today.
“I hope that this appeal will encourage people to come forward with any piece of information they may have, however small they think it is, to help us piece together what happened that night in Kingston. We remain hopeful that we can provide answers for the family, and we need the help of the public to achieve this.”
BBC London has contacted the force about Mrs Reel’s allegations of racism.
Mirror: Mum handed new info in mystery phone call 25 years after son found dead in river
October 2022
Ricky Reel was found dead 25 years ago today – no-one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with his death but now his family have written to police saying someone has approached them with new information
Sukhdev Reel believes the police held racist attitudes at the time her son disappeared (
Image: Humphrey Nemar/daily mirror)
By Alahna Kindred News Reporter
A mum who has spent the last 25 years searching for the truth about her son’s death says someone has approached her with new information that could shed light on the investigation.
Ricky Reel, from West London, was just 20 when he told his mum Sukhdev Reel that he was going out with three of his friends on October 14, 1997.
The friends, who are all South Asian, later told police they were attacked by two white men, who were described as being aged between 18 and 30, who reportedly shouted at them “P***s go home” before throwing punches at them.
In the chaos, all four of them split up and ran in different directions to safety and when the three friends regrouped they couldn’t find Ricky.
On this day 25 years ago, the police found Ricky’s body in the River Thames after seven minutes of searching. No one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with Ricky’s death.
The Mirror has learned that Mrs Reel was contacted by someone in July claiming to know who killed her son Ricky and that it was racially motivated, giving the family fresh hope for a cold case review.
‘My son died after a racist attack 25 years ago – I’m still having to fight for justice’
Sukhdev Reel told The Mirror that she knew something was wrong when Ricky didn’t come home (
Image: PA)
Ricky Reel was 20 years old when he went out with pals in October 1997 (
Image: ex)
Ricky’s case has remained open after a jury inquest ruled an “open verdict” in 1999.
The campaign has urgently requested a face-to-face meeting with the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley following new information that could potentially spark a cold case review.
Speaking today, Mrs Reel told The Mirror she won’t accept anything less than a face-to-face meeting with Sir Mark.
She said: “It’s been 25 years, we deserve a face-to-face meeting with the commissioner.
“If he can’t meet us then we demand he puts his reasons on paper and explains why he isn’t acknowledging us so I know what I need to do next to get in front of him.”
Ricky as a young boy
Sukhdev Reel with John McDonnell (
Image: Sunday Express
In a letter addressed to Sir Rowley in August and seen by The Mirror, it reads: “New information has come to light that requires a thorough review by your cold case team of investigators.
“Last month, Mrs Reel received a phone call from a male who claims that Ricky Reel was killed by a [name redacted] motivated by the perpetrator’s racist views.
“Mrs Reel believes that this information is solid and is willing to provide further information to a police investigator.”
Suresh Grover, a legal activist and Co-Director of the Monitoring Group (formerly the Southall Monitoring Group), has been working alongside Mrs Reel since Ricky went missing.
Mr Grover told The Mirror: “There are people coming forward saying they know someone who is responsible for Ricky’s death.
“I sent the Met Police Commissioner a letter saying this and they should take statements from them.
“Secondly, the technology over the last 25 years has improved and the images can be enhanced.
“In my experience, people also always get involved in cases during anniversaries. We should do a cold case review.”
This CCTV image of Kingston town centre shows where Ricky and his friend were attacked (
Image: Press Association)
He added that he received a response from a detective from the Specialist Casework Team saying they will be in contact to update the campaign if any action will be taken.
Mr Grover told The Mirror last night that the campaign hopes they will have a meeting in early November.
A Met Police spokesperson confirmed they had received the information and they are making “arrangements to meet Ricky’s family in due course”.
It comes as Sir Rowley said hundreds of Met Police officers deserved to be sacked following Baroness Louise Casey’s report into the force’s misconduct system.
When Sir Rowley took over the force from Dame Cressida Dick he also said he would “root out the racism” that still existed in the force.
If this new information proves to be credible then the family can apply to reopen the inquest, leading lawyer Michael Mansfield, KC, said.
Mr Mansfield was the family’s lawyer during the inquest in 1999. He told The Mirror: “The truth always comes out in the end. It rises to the surface slowly and appears from unlikely sources.
What we know of the PCA report
John McDonnell used his parliamentary privilege to read parts of the report to the Commons in 1999. The report remains confidential. The full speech can be read here.
Mr McDonnell summarised some of the conclusions in the PCA report:
“The report states that the identification and interviewing of witnesses was vital to the lines of inquiry. It acknowledges that Mrs Reel herself identified and located some of the witnesses.
“The inquiry also revealed that, in some instances, no records were checked by the Metropolitan police to confirm or support witness accounts; cross-referencing of information did not take place; some witnesses were not found until the PCA investigating team found them.
“Witness information was sometimes not passed on from junior to senior officers.
“The PCA report states that there were “no debriefings”, which would have been common in investigations of this nature; as a result, potentially important information was lost.
“The PCA inquiry reveals that all video evidence from shops was not seized promptly enough to provide information. The PCA states that videotapes from two restaurants may have provided information to the investigation had they been seized promptly”, but they were not. The British Rail tape was indeed seized, not viewed and destroyed.
“Regarding photographic evidence, the three friends of Ricky Reel were never shown any photos of known racist offenders or offenders who had previously been involved in racial incidents in the area, in an attempt to identify the youths involved in the racial attack on the group.
“On forensic information, the PCA inquiry revealed that no clothing or personal items retrieved from Ricky’s body were subject to forensic examination.
“On verification at the scene, the report reveals that no forensic analysis was conducted at the area where it was assumed Ricky entered the river; no fingerprint examination was made of the railing nearby and no foliage was taken; and there was no examination of the concrete block, although photographs were taken.
“The PCA report states that a key element in the investigation was identifying the means of escape used by the earlier attackers. The inquiry highlighted the role of the No. 281 bus, which the attackers may well have boarded. The Metropolitan police did not check the records of work or tickets on the No. 281.”
McDonnell said the PCA condemned the investigation.
He said: “Overall, the report condemns the investigation because it lacked focus, it eliminated the racial incident earlier in the evening too readily, it lacked thoroughness, and there was a failure to initiate an early reconstruction of what happened that night.
“There was also confusion over the ownership of the investigation of the racial incident.
“The investigators came to the conclusion of accidental death before there was corroboration, and there was a failure to adopt policies that would have ensured that professional standards were maintained in the detail of the investigation.”
“We hope that this information provides a lead into reopening matters. Someone has come forward to Ricky’s mum who says they know all about this.
“If it is credible, fresh evidence it can lead to the inquest being reopened. This is why it’s important for people to come forward.”
Mrs Reel told The Mirror last week about how the police failed her family multiple times in the past 25 years.
The police at the time concluded there and then that Ricky had fallen in accidentally while trying to urinate and must have drowned.
It was later heard at the inquest that police did not collect any forensic evidence from the scene or from Ricky’s clothes.
This CCTV image of two individuals n the alleyway was in the area at the time Ricky disappeared (
Image: Press Association)
Police assumed he fell in while urinating because the buttons on his jeans were open, however, the inquest heard from family and experts that Ricky had a phobia of open water and that it was common for clothes to open and loosen in water.
The inquest heard that police did not collect vital CCTV in time or speak to potential witnesses until months after Ricky’s death – meaning any chance of finding crucial clues was missed.
Mrs Reel has maintained that police did not take the case seriously and failed to gather crucial evidence because of Ricky’s race.
She said: “The police refused to take a statement from them [the friends]. They then said ‘you never know he may not want to come home. He may have decided to run away, maybe he’s gay and he’s too frightened to come home.’
“‘You never know, you Asian people try to arrange your children’s marriages.
“They said this knowing there was a racial attack. This told us the police were not interested in looking for Ricky.
“We are Asian and they thought an Asian life is not worth it. The victims were attacked, Asian boys were attacked and my son is missing after this racial attack.”
She continued: “They (police) didn’t prioritise it from day one. They didn’t believe us.
“They belittled us simply because of the colour of my skin. Had I been white the treatment would have been very different.
“They never believed the racial attack happened. They never connected it.”
Sukhdev Reel poses with a painting of her son Ricky at her home (
Image: Humphrey Nemar/daily mirror)
In 1998, a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) report (now the Independent Office for Police Conduct) – which has never been made public – found there were “weaknesses” within the organisation that led to the “neglect” from the investigating officers.
John McDonnell, Mrs Reel’s Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, used his parliamentary privilege to reveal the contents of the report in the House of Commons in 1998.
In 2014, Mrs Reel and the campaign were notified that they had been under surveillance as part of “collateral intrusion”.
Speaking last week, Mrs Reel said: “The new Met Police commissioner is saying he’s very hot on dealing with racism and that he has new technology that he can use.
Sukhdev published this book earlier this year, documenting the last 25 years of her fight for justice (
Image: Humphrey Nemar/daily mirror)
“We are asking for a meeting to discuss this. We have sent three letters and have not even been offered a meeting with him, which is disappointing.
“We have been offered a meeting with other people, but if he’s serious about dealing with racism he needs to meet with the families that are victims of this.
“Our request is to meet him as soon as possible.”
A Met Police spokesperson told The Mirror: “We have received correspondence from Ricky’s family and this has been passed to Specialist Crime Detectives.
“The team has made contact with representatives of Ricky’s family and will assess any further information provided by them or others.
“The team are making arrangements to meet Ricky’s family in due course.”
Last week, Commander Catherine Roper, Specialist Crime, said: “It has been 25 years since Ricky died. My thoughts are with Ricky’s family and the pain they must still feel today.
“I hope that this appeal will encourage people to come forward with any piece of information they may have, however small they think it is, to help us piece together what happened that night in Kingston.
Birmingham Mail: Ricky Reel’s mum to speak of 25-year fight for justice over death of her son
Sukhdev Reel will be discussing her book ‘Silence is not an option’ in Smethwick on Saturday, October 8 2022
A mum is seeking answers to end the 25-year riddle of how her much-loved son was found dead in the River Thames. Heartbroken Sukhdev Kaur Reel said she and others needed to finally know what happened to 20-year-old Ricky.
He vanished in October 1997 after a night out with friends in what his mother believed was a racist attack in Kingston-upon-Thames in south-west London. His three friends were able to regroup but Ricky never did. His body was found in the water a week later.
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Sukhdev has written a book, Silence is not an option, about her struggle for the truth and how she has coped with her son’s unsolved death. She is touring the work and will speak at Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick, from 3pm to 5pm tomorrow, Saturday, October 8.
She claimed police did not support her and instead made stereotypical assumptions about him due to his race and skin colour. The Met confirmed the case remained open and has previously denied Ricky’s race was a factor in its investigation.
In 2014, the then-chief constable of Derbyshire Constabulary, Mick Creedon, said in a report into Scotland Yard’s now-disbanded undercover unit, the Special Demonstration Squad, that information on families campaigning for justice for loved ones was gathered by officers who infiltrated political groups.
He said the justice campaigns had not been the targets of police infiltration. The intelligence was “hoovered up” accidentally by officers ordered to infiltrate leftist groups, which police chiefs believed were capable of violence.
Sukhdev told BirminghamLive: “I wanted to have the book ready and published on Ricky’s 25th anniversary. It is his legacy and memories for his siblings and their children who unfortunately never met Ricky.
“People need to know what happened to Ricky and how we were treated by the institutions who are supposed to deliver justice. Instead we were mocked because of our colour and race. In the eyes of the police there is this perception that Asian families force their children into marriages. I wanted to show the world that is not the case. We are no different and we need justice.
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“Justice is essential and not elective. The book details the truly shocking compound failure by the police to investigate the death, while displaying ineptitude, indifference, incompetence and downright hostility towards our family.
“Basic investigations into what happened including searches were carried out by the family. It later transpired that the family and its supporters were under police surveillance at a time when resources were deemed scarce and unavailable to be used for investigation into Ricky’s disappearance. The police refused then, and to this day, to be open, transparent and accountable.”
Asked if she believed racially-motivated crime rates had dropped 25 years on, Sukhdev said: “One only has to look at the history and our case to see institutional racism we as people of colour face in today’s society.
“Some may say this happened 25 years ago. But in light of the recent events and revelations particularly about the Met, I am saddened to say that it could have happened yesterday. In my opinion I see no changes to racism we faced 25 years ago, which I feel is very much alive today as well. “
A Met spokesperson said: “The investigation into the death of Ricky Reel remains open.
“The Met’s inquiry has been extensive – since Ricky’s disappearance and the discovery of his body in the River Thames on October 21, 1997, there have been numerous investigations and reviews. Officers have taken hundreds of statements from witnesses and people with information.
“There have been many media appeals and local leaflet appeals as part of our extensive efforts to piece together the circumstances around Ricky’s death.
“The inquest in 1999 into Ricky’s death returned an open verdict. In 2012, new information was reported to police by a member of the public – which led to a man being interviewed by officers however he was subsequently eliminated from the inquiry.
Surrey Press:Ricky Reel: Police make fresh appeal 25 years after 20-year-old found dead in River Thames
BBC Radio 4 – Listen to “What Happened to Ricky Reel?”
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001dptqmes/m001dptq
A quarter of a century ago, Ricky Reel was on a night out with friends in Southwest London. Seven days later his body was found in the River Thames. His mother, Sukhdev Reel, has always maintained her son was killed in a racist attack. The family discovered the boys had been racially abused that night, leading to a fight between Ricky and his friends, and two white youths. Sukhdev is still campaigning for the Metropolitan Police to re-investigate her son’s death.
The actor and presenter Ameet Chana goes back to find out what happened to Ricky Reel and see if Sukhdev can find the answers she desperately wants. Ameet was cast in a reconstruction of Ricky’s last night for a BBC documentary in 1998 and it’s a case that has stayed with him.
Two investigations were carried out by the Metropolitan Police in the 1990s and both concluded the death was likely to be an accident. In 1999, an open verdict was recorded and although the investigation into the death of Ricky remains open, it is no longer active as the Metropolitan Police maintain there are no further lines of inquiry left to follow.
To assist with the case, Ameet seeks the help of a former Detective Chief Inspector with the Metropolitan Police, Clive Driscoll, who was one of the main detectives to finally secure a conviction in the Stephen Lawrence case. Clive advises Ameet to go back and speak to the original investigators and find Ricky’s friends. Will they shed any more light?
Also contributing in the programme are KC Michael Mansfield, and Suresh Grover from The Monitoring Group and coordinator of the Justice for Ricky Reel Campaign.
Produced by Perminder Khatkar
Executive Producer: Louise Orchard
A 2 Degrees West production for BBC Radio 4Show less
Good Morning Britain
‘The police officer turned around & said “you Asian people you always arrange your children’s marriages”‘. A mother of an Asian student who died in 1997 is calling for a new investigation into her son’s death. Ricky’s body was found in the Thames after he was racially abused. Subscribe now for more! http://bit.ly/1NbomQa Broadcast on 20/10/22 Stream Good Morning Britain live, every weekday from 6am on the ITV Hub 📲 http://daytimelink.itv.com/WatchGMBYT Subscribe now for more! http://bit.ly/1NbomQa Like, follow and subscribe to Good Morning Britain! The Good Morning Britain YouTube channel delivers you the news that you’re waking up to in the morning. From exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in politics and showbiz to heartwarming human interest stories and unmissable watch again moments. Join Susanna Reid, Ben Shephard, Kate Garraway, Charlotte Hawkins and Sean Fletcher every weekday on ITV from 6am until 9 every weekday! ITV Hub: http://daytimelink.itv.com/WatchGMBYT Website: http://bit.ly/1GsZuha YouTube: http://bit.ly/1Ecy0g1 Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1HEDRMb Twitter: http://bit.ly/1xdLqU3 http://www.itv.com #GMB
Justice For Ricky Reel 