One of the so-called Manchester 10 yesterday had his conviction overturned for his alleged involvement in revenging the murder of his best friend John Soyoye in an appeal which raised concerns about racial stereotyping of young Black men as gang members and the use of Drill music as evidence. Ademola Adedeji was just 17 years old at the time of the offence and was sentenced to eight years for sending eleven text messages in a group chat.

The case features in the latest issue of PROOF (Jailed over a Group Chat) in which documentary maker Fran Robertson argues that the only evidence against Ademola Adedeji was the 20 minutes he had spent in a group chat weeks before any violence took place. In March 2022, Adedeji along with nine over teenagers went to trial charged with conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH). The prosecution argued that, although no murder had taken place, all the defendants were part of a gang conspiring to avenge their friend’s death. Four defendants were found guilty of conspiracy to murder and six of conspiracy to cause GBH.

Yesterday’s judgment follows a two-day appeal in December in which the human rights group JUSTICE highlighting concerns over racial stereotyping, the ‘adultification’ of black and ethnic minority defendants as well as the misinterpretation of drill music as evidence of criminal activity. As well as quashing Ademola’s conviction, the Court of Appeal granted appeals against the sentences of two, Omolade Okoya and Raymond Savi whose eight-year sentences have been replaced with four and a half years. In total, four boys convicted of conspiring to commit GBH and three boys convicted a conspiracy to murder, were granted leave to appeal against their convictions.

• You can read about Fran Robertson on the Manchester 10 in our PROOF magazine

‘Breathtaking cultural ignorance and laziness’
According to Adedji’s defence team, the prosecution relied on racial stereotypes to argue that a 17-year-old child ‘with no previous convictions, a care worker for dementia patients, rugby player and future law student’ was a member of a violent criminal street gang. A key piece of evidence they deployed was a nine-second video found on the phone of a co-defendant. In it, a young Black boy is seen wearing a blue bandana. The prosecution told the jury that Adedeji was that boy and that he was rapping.

Ademola Adedeji had attended the police station voluntarily to undergo a police interview. The officer in charge of investigating the case, PC McGregor, interviewed Ademola for a few hours on that one day. From that brief encounter, he claimed to identify Adedeji in the video clip.

Keir Monteith KC and Audrey Cherryl Mogan, his lawyers, point out that the white police officer made no notes as to why he believed that he had recognised Ade’. ‘Even during the officer’s evidence at trial, he couldn’t say why it was he believed that the young Black boy in the video was the same boy on trial. However, it was crucial to the prosecution’s case that the two boys were the same, because despite having access to the Appellant’s phone, and all his social media – it was the only photo, video or post the prosecution could point to where ‘Ade’ was wearing blue, and it was the prosecution’s case that ‘blue’ was the gang colour.’

Ademola maintained throughout the trial that it was not him in the video but someone called ‘Tyrone.’ Zachary Whyte, solicitor in the appeal, found Tyrone Numa who ‘clearly and unequivocally’ told the judges that he was the man in the video; that he had no previous convictions; the bandana was not his and he was not rapping. The lawyers added that ‘despite this compelling fresh evidence, and without any evidence to the contrary’ the prosecution suggested that Numa was run fact lying’. The three Court of Appeal disagreed and, on that basis, overturned the conviction.

🚨 STATEMENT ON VERDICT & WHAT YOU CAN DO 🚨

Firstly, we need you to read about these boys. Articles based on the prosecution’s racist narrative will try to tell you who they are.

We wanted to share some reflections on the boys ⬇️ link to full text: https://t.co/QXi8YZHrxY pic.twitter.com/FRYVsr3FQD

— Kids Of Colour (@KidsOfColourHQ) May 18, 2022

The prosecution argued that a screenshot of Adedeji holding a wad of cash to his ear meant he was a gang member. ‘Ade said he was just mimicking what celebrities do – a phenomenon commonly referred to as ‘money-phone’,’ Monteith and Morgan said.

Expert evidence on gangs included a statement from a former president of Def Jam Recordings, Kevin Liles, on the ‘money-phone phenomena’. ‘At best, the attempt to submit images of a money phone as “gang activity” is breathtaking cultural ignorance and laziness that could have been pre-empted by entering the words “money phone” into any internet search engine. At worst, it is a knowingly cynical and racist attempt to criminalize hip-hop and Black culture. It is disturbing, shameful, and should raise questions about other evidence connected to hip-hop culture submitted by the prosecution.’

The Court of Appeal did not engage with arguments over institutional racism within the criminal justice system – instead they concluded that it was permissible for the prosecution to suggest that, for example, a young Black male in a nine second video was a gang member because he wore a blue bandana and photos of Adedeji holding cash could demonstrate gang involvement.

By contrast, JUSTICE, in their intervention, observed that the prejudicial forms of evidence and the lack of independent experts were ‘endemic within the criminal justice system’ and argued that ‘adultification’ combined with misunderstandings of youth culture and celebrity imitation led to childish fun being misinterpreted as gang affiliation. Emma Snell, legal policy manager at JUSTICE, said that ‘every child and young person deserves to have their creativity nourished and to live without fear of guilt by association’. ‘The Court rightly highlighted the vital need to ensure people with shared music interests are not unfairly labelled as gangs, and that evidence of gang membership must avoid racial stereotyping. However, more needs to be done. Rap music is one of the most popular genres of music in the UK – it’s time to end its criminalisation by raising the threshold for its use as evidence.’

‘The quashing of Ade’s conviction brings welcomed relief to Ade and his family, but he should never have been prosecuted for the 11 hastily texted messages on a group chat,’ commented Keir Monteith KC. ‘We all say things we don’t mean, and this was the outpourings of anger from a 17-year-old lad who had just been told his 16-year-old mate had been murdered. Ironically during the alleged conspiracy period Ade authored a book that dealt with stereotypes in Manchester…a few months later he and others were then stereotyped in a criminal trial, Ade was misidentified by the police, convicted of a crime he did not commit and wrongly sentenced to 8 years. That said I am confident that Ade will progress from law student to lawyer and beyond as he and his co-defendants continue to rebut the stereotypes that were used in this trial.’

Monteith said that the ‘injustice continues with appellants in this appeal, defendants in Joint Enterprise and rap cases being wrongly convicted and incarcerated’. ‘A large proportion of whom are Black.’

Audrey Cherryl Mogan said the case highlighted the ‘significant problems and unfairness that can occur where police officers think they can identify a suspect from footage’. ‘This is particularly so where the suspect and officer are from different races and Ade’s case should act as a stark warning,’ she added. Zachary Whyte thanked Tyrone Numa for stepping forward. ‘The quashing of this conviction is a victory for the community and without the people of Manchester coming together to push back against this miscarriage of justice, we would not be here today. This success is bittersweet, as I represent several co-appellants who did not have their convictions overturned and this is painful. The fresh evidence aspect of our appeal rendered Ade’s conviction unsafe, but ultimately the prosecution was wrong to bring its case in the way it did, which led to an injustice and our work is not yet complete.’

The legal team thanked campaigner Roxy Legane of Kids Of Colour for her work on the case.

JUSTICE’s recommendations

• Use of independent experts in gang-related cases: Mandate the use of accredited, independent experts for gang-related evidence to ensure compliance with evidentiary standards. This would ensure that such evidence is reliable, objective, and free from bias, thereby safeguarding against its misuse and enhancing the fairness of trials.
• Strict application of the Myers test: Enforce the strict application of the Myers test when police officers provide expert evidence, particularly in gang-related cases. This would help prevent bias and stereotyping, ensuring that evidence presented is credible and appropriately scrutinised.
• Enhanced Jury Directions: Mandate specific jury instructions that address the potential prejudicial impact of gang-related evidence and emphasise the importance of evaluating such material critically.
• Guidelines for the use of cultural evidence: Develop guidelines for the admissibility and interpretation of cultural evidence, such as drill music, in criminal trials. These guidelines should aim to prevent cultural expressions from being mischaracterised as indicators of criminal behaviour, thereby reducing the risk of racial stereotyping.
• Procedural Safeguards Against Stereotyping: Implement safeguards to ensure freedom of association is not unfairly interpreted as evidence of criminal intent, particularly for young defendants from ethnic minority backgrounds.