New BBC Radio 4 Broadcast: What Happened to Ricky Reel?
source: BBC Radio
published: November 2022
Image Credit: SOMMAI at www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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 the 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 {to} 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. “I support the call by the family of Ricky Reel and the Justice for Ricky Reel Campaign for the police to review the case of Ricky Reel afresh including a review of forensic evidence in the light of recent technological advances. Please sign the Petition and share.”
Silence is not an option – book launch in parliament
In this new book Ricky’s mother, Sukhdev Reel, tells the powerful and moving story of Ricky’s life and her family’s struggle for justice.
On 14 October 1997 Ricky Reel went missing following a racist attack in Kingston upon Thames. His three friends, who had also been racially abused, were able to regroup but Ricky never did. Seven days later Ricky’s body was found at the bottom of the River Thames, just metres away from where the boys had been abused. He was only 20 at the time.
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.
25 years later, no one has been charged with his death.
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