Raphael Rowe: Journalist, documentarian and host of Netflix's 'Inside the World's Toughest Prisons'; wrongfully convicted in the 1988 M25 murder case and exonerated in 2000 after 12 years in prison.
What this episode covers
Raphael Rowe recounts growing up poor and mixed-race on a southeast London council estate, an abusive father, and drifting into petty crime as a teenager. Two months after his son was born, armed police arrested him for a 1988 M25 murder and robberies he did not commit, despite victims describing two white men and one black man. He was convicted and sentenced to life plus 56 years, surviving 12 years of isolation, beatings and despair before educating himself, learning the law and media, and winning his freedom via the BBC's Rough Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Now a journalist and Netflix presenter, he runs a foundation to rethink, rehumanize and reintegrate prisoners, and reflects on lost time, his estranged son, refusal to forgive, and the love story with his wife Nancy.
Recommended on this episode
Inside the World's Toughest Prisons
Netflix
“I would highly recommend anyone that hasn't seen it to go and watch it ASAP on Netflix”— Steve Bartlett
The guest's own work
Raphael Rowe autobiography
Raphael Rowe
“it would have been lovely to be able to to hand these Diaries over to my son although now you can probably read my book”— Raphael Rowe
Also referenced (named, not recommended)
Curly Wurly
Cadbury
“after I got caught Nick in curly whirly chocolate bars from the co-op around the corner from my house”— Raphael Rowe
Big reveals from this episode
- Of 12-13 people arrested at the flat, Raphael was singled out and isolated from his co-defendants from that moment for the next 12 years.
- All three crime-scene victims described two white men and one black man, none matching Raphael, a black man with dreadlocks.
- He was sentenced to life imprisonment plus 56 years for crimes he did not commit.
- He alleges a key witness ex-girlfriend and a police informer were paid reward money to give false evidence against him.
- A BBC Rough Justice secret recording captured a witness admitting he fabricated evidence for the police in the M25 case.
- The European Court of Human Rights unanimously (21 judges) ruled he was denied a fair trial, leading to his convictions being quashed in 2000.
- After his wrongful conviction, the state deducted 'bed and board' costs from his compensation.
- Asked if he would press a button to erase the 12 years, he refuses, saying it would erase who he is.
Worth remembering
- Raphael has never had a conversation with his son and kept a prison diary of messages for him still in a locked box at home.
- He maintained his innocence, which under the system at the time meant a life sentence with effectively no release.
- He studied a correspondence journalism course in prison to learn how to plant stories in national newspapers and prove his innocence.
- He drafted a 200-page application to the European Court on a manual typewriter, correcting errors with Tippex.
- He saved a fellow inmate's life by lifting him down from a hanging attempt; the man was ungrateful.
- A prison chaplain allowed private 'visits' for intimacy but secretly spied through a hole in the wall.
- He had never held a mobile phone, used the internet, or held a microphone before leaving prison, yet became a BBC journalist within 12 months.
- His wife Nancy was a teenage girlfriend before prison who stuck by him; he fell in love for the first time at age 32.
- He refuses to forgive those who put him away, saying forgiveness is just a word and actions matter more.