What Happened to Ricky Reel

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What Happened to Ricky Reel?

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BBC Radio 4 - What Happened to Ricky Reel?

Can a mother reignite an investigation into her son's death, 25 years after it happened?

Was Ricky Reel killed in a racist attack and can his mother reignite an investigation into her son's death, 25 years after it happened? Ameet Chana finds out.

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 In 1999, an open verdict was recorded and although the investigation into the death of Ricky remains open, it is no longer active as the Metropolitan Police maintain there are no further lines of inquiry left to follow.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 4

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