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00:27The End
00:27Have you got anything against these colored people who live here?
00:29The majority is, you know, they're bad, you know what I mean? I think we've got the worst in Notting
00:33Hill.
00:46Notting Hill District has been subjected to, I think, an organized campaign of racial hatred in recent weeks.
01:05I'm Vicky McClure. I've spent years playing police officers on screen.
01:10My husband, Johnny Owen, is a historian and filmmaker.
01:14We share a passion for finding out the truth.
01:18Together, we're going on a journey back in time to explore murder cases that have changed modern Britain.
01:26Oh, God. He's basically saying, I'll do time for these people, but when I come out, I'm going to kill
01:32them.
01:33Whether it's unsolved crimes.
01:36Kelser Cocker was the victim. He wasn't the perpetrator of any crime.
01:40Miscotriages of justice.
01:41The last words he said just before he was executed was, Christy done it.
01:48Wow.
01:49Or milestone cases that have changed the law.
01:52The government agreed to not disclose it to the public.
01:57Wow.
01:58We'll examine what really happened and how the legacy of these crimes continues to be felt today.
02:19We're in Notting Hill in West London.
02:23It's an area with a deep history and a special place in popular culture, thanks latterly to Richard Curtis.
02:31I was about to say, I think the first thing that comes to my mind, because I was a big
02:36fan of the film, I'm a big fan of Julia Roberts.
02:38The same way you're a big fan of Julia Roberts, I'm a big fan of Hugh Grant.
02:42What I do know about Notting Hill is it's a very posh area.
02:45It's a great example of the gentrification of certain parts of London.
02:49Yeah.
02:49I knew Notting Hill as an area where a lot of the Afro-Caribbean moved after the Second World War.
02:55Yeah.
02:55Because it was run-down housing, very expensive rent.
02:59It used to be ghettoised almost.
03:03In 1948, the British Nationality Act gave people from the colonies the right to live and work in Britain.
03:12Those who made the trip from the Caribbean came to be known as the Windrush Generation.
03:19With all of that, we've got the Notting Hill Carnival.
03:23The carnival's been around again for many, many years.
03:26And I've always loved that it's a celebration of culture and music, food, Caribbean community in particular.
03:36It's the biggest carnival, street carnival in Western Europe.
03:41But the carnival's beginnings reveal a much darker story.
03:45The story of a terrible crime, which has remained unsolved for over 60 years.
03:52This name, Kelso Cochran, I'd never heard of this name.
03:55And he was murdered in what seems like a racially motivated attack.
03:58And this played a big part in the birth of what became one of the most famous carnivals on the
04:03planet.
04:04It seems like there's a moment in history that's not really been told.
04:09I want to find out what happened to Kelso Cochran,
04:12how his murder impacted the community,
04:15and why those who killed him never faced justice.
04:20The first person that we're going to meet is a gentleman called Jack Buehler.
04:32Ah, hello.
04:34Dr. Jack Buehler has helped commemorate over 120 significant moments in black history in the UK and beyond,
04:41including the death of Kelso Cochran.
04:44Can you tell us who Kelso Cochran was and what happened to him?
04:49Kelso Cochran was a Caribbean migrant who came to Britain in 1954.
04:54He's from Antigua.
04:55He's a young, vibrant, ambitious young man.
04:59He was actually a carpenter and he was saving up his money to go into the legal profession.
05:04Kelso had a flat on Bevington Road, which was just down there.
05:08One night he was coming home from a hospital visit.
05:12He had an injury to his thumb from an accident at work.
05:16So he goes to Paddington General Hospital, which is just under a mile from here.
05:19He gets seen to me pretty quickly.
05:22He's in a sling and he's making his way home.
05:25So he's come through that road there.
05:34And was set upon by a group of young fucks, let's call it what it is, and was fatally stabbed.
05:45On that site there, actually crossed the road from the pub and died on the 17th of May 1959.
06:02Why was it thought to be a racist murder?
06:05What was going on here back then?
06:07In 1958-59, we have to understand there is an influx of migrations, migrared particularly from the Caribbean.
06:14We're talking about the Windrush generation, there's racial disharmony, and it resulted in a 1958 race riot.
06:23And nine months later, we have the death of Kelso Popham, which took the whole racial tensions to another level.
06:28There was a lot of people who were outraged at that particular murder.
06:32So if there's any redemptive resolution from that, it was that it got the community closer together.
06:37That and the Notting Hill Carnival.
06:39Okay, we all know about the fun side of the carnival, absolutely.
06:41And that's what this murder also stimulated.
06:45Because let me explain to you, in 1958, there's a lady called Gloria Jones.
06:50Yes.
06:50So she organizes an indoor carnival in January 1959.
06:56Remember, this happens in May 1959.
06:58So she's already done the first carnival.
07:00And so this stimulated and fanned the flames for that carnival indoor tradition to continue.
07:06It was also to show that, look, we're not just a victimized community, but we do have art.
07:13And as she famously uttered, a people's art is a genesis of their freedom.
07:17Oh, that's beautiful.
07:21Yeah, I'm a big fan of a blue plaque.
07:23I think I've got a crick in my neck in London just from reading them all.
07:26But I do think they're essential, really.
07:28And he's made me want to find out more now about this case and, you know, find out what
07:32it was like to live in this community for a newly arrived immigrant from the Caribbean,
07:35because it sounds pretty horrific, really.
07:37Let's try and get as much detail as we can, as much truth as we can.
07:42You know, it's one of those stories where you go, we want to be able to walk away from
07:46it knowing we've given it as much justice as we can.
07:58To understand the murder of 32-year-old Kelso Cochran on the streets of Notting Hill in May
08:031959, we need to go back to the first reports from the time.
08:08This is the Daily Express.
08:10So you can see this is May the 18th, 3 a.m.
08:13And this is a Notting Hill murder.
08:15Whitson raised hatred, then riot squads are out.
08:18So they're obviously anticipating they could heighten tensions.
08:20Yeah.
08:21So Jim Crow is the nickname given to segregation in the American South.
08:26So until the mid to late 60s in America, you could legally segregate things like pubs.
08:32It's quite shocking, actually, because we always like to think in Britain that we've never
08:35been part of that.
08:37And this is on the 19th of May, so...
08:39A day after.
08:40A day after, all of a sudden, it's a very different story.
08:42Yeah.
08:43No reference to shouting Jim Crow.
08:45And they mentioned that one vote didn't do robbery or attempted robbery of a man.
08:50They've even got their witnesses, who were the two men that helped him.
08:55They're saying that they asked for my money.
08:57I told them I had none.
08:59Which seems like a very strange thing to say if you die in.
09:02A senior Scotland Yard officer told me yesterday, you will be doing the community a service
09:07by refraining from any suggestion that this is a racial murder, which seems wild to me.
09:13So basically, by not calling it a racial murder means that it'll be better for the community.
09:19No.
09:21They don't mention the fact that he'd been injured working and he was walking home from
09:25the hospital.
09:26Obviously, the police are trying to calm things down.
09:29If you think of it, if you look at the dates...
09:32So, autumn 1958 of the Notting Hill riots, this is just a few months later.
09:38So, obviously, tensions are very high.
09:43A week later, straight away by the headline, you can see things are changing.
09:47Gang victim led double life.
09:48So, you know, this whole idea that he was somebody very different from this guy who
09:53was going home injured from a day's work.
09:55A new theory about the death of 32-year-old Kelso Cochran, a coloured carpenter stabbed
09:59in Notting Hill, and we could go, emerged last night from a detailed investigation of
10:03Cochran's background.
10:05The knife that killed him was probably his own.
10:08Probably his own.
10:10He liked to carry one.
10:11OK.
10:12Says who?
10:12There's a strong accusation there to say this.
10:14Yard men believe he was carrying a knife when he rang into a gang of youths on the
10:18corner of Southam Street and Goulburn Road, North Kensington and New Yearly Awas.
10:23The theory is the youths demanded money.
10:25Cochran drew his knife.
10:27One of the youths, in the struggle, forced the knife into his chest.
10:30It's a continuation of just trying to sort of change the narrative.
10:34Do you see what I mean?
10:35Yeah.
10:36In the space of a week, we've got three huge articles in three massive papers that have
10:41gone from one theory to another theory to a character assassination.
10:46Yeah.
10:46This is blatant spin now of people trying to get into the press and trying to say, look,
10:50let's just wrap this case up.
10:52We really need to unpick all of this because it feels to me like there's just a web of lies.
10:57Ultimately, I think that starts with finding out about Kelso Cochran.
11:00Let's find out about Kelso, but also the police investigation.
11:03Because once again, you know, you've got the press and the police working together, which isn't always going to be
11:10helpful.
11:14To find out what life was like for the West Indian community at the time of Kelso's murder,
11:19we need to go and see sociologist and filmmaker Colin Prescod.
11:24Colin.
11:26Colin.
11:29Colin grew up in Notting Hill around this time and later made documentaries about the grim reality
11:35that greeted West Indians who came to Britain in the 1950s.
11:41This is where people were encouraged to come to help in the rebuilding of Britain,
11:44as they said, after the Second World War, wasn't it?
11:46This and a number of places in the country, and they come, including my mother,
11:51they come as people who think they're citizens of the British Empire and therefore of Great Britain
11:56and are, in the main, very surprised about the unwelcome that they experience,
12:03because they really do think of themselves as Britishers.
12:05And they were invited here?
12:06Correct.
12:07And so they can't drink in pubs, they can't go to dance halls,
12:11so at every turn they find themselves as people who are having to make a fuss.
12:16Stories like this, these stories are so important, and it's so heartbreaking.
12:23So where are you at this time?
12:25So I arrive age 13, going on 14.
12:29Mm-hmm.
12:30Kids are not at the front line of being attacked,
12:34but the adults who were around, they were always very full of tension.
12:39I was aware that they'd all go out talking about being careful when they went out.
12:43That sounds like such a difficult way to live,
12:46but it gives us a taste of the world in which Kelso Cochrane lived in and grew up in,
12:51or was at least the time of what it was like.
12:55What was your take on his death, on his murder?
12:58I didn't have a take at the time.
12:59I have a take now.
13:01It's a mob bent on doing great harm to somebody,
13:05and that's what happened there.
13:06This is a lynch mob murder.
13:16So we've heard what Notting Hill was like from the perspective of those newly arrived in the 1950s,
13:21but what was it like for those who grew up here?
13:25And there he is.
13:26Here's the man.
13:27Hi, Alan.
13:28Hiya.
13:28Hello, Alan.
13:29Alan Johnson went on to become a Labour MP, and in 2009, Home Secretary.
13:36But in 1959, he lived yards from where Kelso Cochrane was murdered.
13:41So I've got a photograph to show you, Alan, which is of the very area there.
13:44Wow.
13:45Where the original street was.
13:47Goodness.
13:48And that's the bag.
13:49I was just going to say, the bag wash was on that corner.
13:52You took a bag of dirty washing, came back a week later, it was all washed.
13:56And poor old Kelso, he was murdered on that corner.
14:06All of this area, I mean, they were all slums.
14:09It had a density of population, more than two people to one room.
14:13It was four times the average for London.
14:16And into it came lots of people from Trinidad, Jamaica, West Indian generation.
14:22And they walked into this kind of cultural clash, I suppose.
14:26They got blamed for, I mean, there wasn't much unemployment about,
14:29but they got told they were taking all of our jobs.
14:31They got told they were taking our houses.
14:33They were prained into the same slums that we were living in.
14:36So that was the febrile atmosphere.
14:39That febrile atmosphere was inflamed by fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
14:43And he also sought to capitalise on Kelso's death.
14:47Mosley stood in the 1959 general election, the North Kensington constituency.
14:52He tried to exploit the murder of Kelso Cochrane.
14:55And he said all the Jamaicans and Trinidadians should be sent back,
14:58you know, repatriation.
15:00He's had various names.
15:02But Kelso Cochrane was the victim of it.
15:04He wasn't, you know, the perpetrator of any crime.
15:07He was the victim.
15:08Still unsolved.
15:09Let's get indoors and then we can chat a bit more.
15:11Yeah.
15:19So, Alan, you were nine when Kelso was murdered.
15:22You were living in the area.
15:24Was it not somewhere you'd want to walk around on your own?
15:27Well, a girl came knocking on our door for my mum to take her in, being chased by a group
15:33of Teddy boys.
15:35What crime did that girl commit?
15:36She went out with a black guy.
15:39When Kelso was murdered, did you feel sort of scared?
15:43My mum had witnessed the altercation and she'd been serving a table for a woman she'd cleaned
15:49for at the posh end of Labra Grove.
15:52And she was just coming home at midnight and she saw the altercation begin.
15:56She shouted, leave him alone.
15:58And then scuttled round and went home.
16:01Well, she told my sister a name that she thought the person she saw.
16:06She was dead frightened.
16:08And my mother was probably the most kind of law-abiding person you could get.
16:12But would she go to the police?
16:14Well, that would have been difficult.
16:16Yeah.
16:16And my sister gave me the name not long before I'd been the home secretary.
16:20I was obliged to put this name to the commissioner of Metropolitan Police.
16:24And so I wrote to him.
16:25But the name's not figured anywhere.
16:27My mum might have, you know, misidentified him.
16:31My sister might have misremembered the name.
16:34So he didn't get anywhere.
16:36How did the community respond after Kelso's murder?
16:39Mosley was sent away with a flea in his ear.
16:42I mean, he only got 3,000 votes.
16:43First time in his whole career.
16:45Long parliamentary career.
16:46And I think there was a line between poor Kelso's murder in 59.
16:51Then the first Race Relations Act.
16:53And then another Race Relations Act coming after that.
16:58Listening to all of this, it's impossible not to think of another racially motivated murder 30 years later.
17:05That of Stephen Lawrence.
17:06The Stephen Lawrence murder feels somewhat very similar.
17:10I did think about Stephen Lawrence, actually.
17:12The tragedy that happened to Stephen Lawrence.
17:15The publicity around it and the way it was treated was so different to Kelso Cochran.
17:20God was still another horrific murder of a guy killed because of the colour of his skin.
17:25But society reacted differently.
17:33That was sort of lived experience for me.
17:36And his mum, you know, seeing the attack.
17:39Not being able to tell the police.
17:42And then Alan telling the police years later.
17:45There was a real insight into the place, the time.
17:48The racial tensions that, you know, were clearly so evident.
17:59Understandably, Alan was reluctant to share the name of the suspect with us.
18:03But his memories make me wonder how much fear in the community
18:06shaped the police's investigation into Kelso Cochran's murder.
18:14Over the years, many police involved have passed away.
18:18But we have had a breakthrough.
18:24The author, Mark Olden, who probably knows more about this case than anyone,
18:28and who interviewed police officers for his book, A Murder in Notting Hill,
18:32has agreed to meet us.
18:34Is this a common thing where he's just attacked out of the blue,
18:37just for no reason?
18:38Or he's just walking along?
18:40So, these attacks were very, very common,
18:42but no-one had been murdered up until that point.
18:45So that marked something new.
18:48The police investigation.
18:49Can you just shed some light about that?
18:52Who led it?
18:53Detective Inspector Ian Forbes-Lath,
18:55who was in charge of the investigation,
18:58quite an out-of-place character in Notting Hill,
19:02among all the old villains.
19:03I mean, that looks like a classic English gen.
19:06He's got a bowler hat on.
19:06He looks like he could be working in the city.
19:08He was called the Governor and the Bowler.
19:10That was his nickname, yeah.
19:12Well, what would he have tried to do
19:13to sort of find out who would kill Kelso?
19:18So, the police very quickly
19:19honed in on this party in Southam Street,
19:22which was 150 yards where Kelso was attacked,
19:24where you had some of the worst hoodlums
19:26who had quite long criminal records.
19:28One of them was a guy called John Bragan, shoggy.
19:30Let's have a look at him.
19:33He looks a handful, doesn't he?
19:35He does, yeah.
19:37And a witness placed him at the scene at the time,
19:40at the relevant time.
19:42So, obviously, he's very, very much in the frame.
19:44And there was another key suspect called Pat Digby.
19:50Digby only had very minor convictions,
19:52but he was also a very well-known troublemaker in the area.
19:58Wow. So, these are our suspects?
20:00That's the first time I've ever heard these names.
20:03Shoggy Bragan was 24 at the time.
20:05Digby was 20.
20:07And in the days leading up before the murder,
20:09Digby was kind of out of control,
20:11getting into fights in pubs,
20:13thrown out from his home,
20:15just sort of sowing chaos,
20:16living a really chaotic lifestyle at the time.
20:19And the police got them both very, very quickly.
20:22They placed Digby at the scene,
20:24but we do not know what evidence they had.
20:28There's no talk of these guys in these curtains, you know.
20:32No, it's ridiculous, because they're the papers.
20:34No, they are purposely putting information
20:37which they know to be false out into the public domain.
20:39What's going on?
20:40Is institutional racism we know existed now?
20:43This is the big question.
20:44And when we pushed to get the murder case papers opened,
20:47we thought there might be some sort of smoking gun document
20:50which can spell out more clearly, but there isn't.
20:53The idea that a young white man would hang for a black man
20:56and the huge publicity which would ensue from a murder trial
21:00would just be enormous.
21:02The authorities would not necessarily want that,
21:06but there isn't a smoking gun to say
21:08they killed the investigation.
21:10So these two here, are they still alive?
21:12No, Shoggy Reagan died in 2019.
21:15Pat Digby died in 2007.
21:18Three people had separately, independently,
21:21named him as the killer, the person who wielded the knife.
21:25One of them was at the party that night,
21:27and he said that Digby came back
21:28and told everyone what he'd done, boasted about it.
21:30I was also told this is the worst it kept secret in Notting Hill,
21:33which it would be, because everybody knew.
21:36Mark, what is it you think happened that night?
21:38I am as confident as I can be that it's Pat Digby,
21:41and the person who can speak firsthand to that
21:44is his stepdaughter, Susie Reid.
21:55I've managed to track down Susie,
21:58who is Pat Digby's stepdaughter.
22:00It would be very interesting to hear
22:02what it was like for her at that time,
22:04in this area, her upbringing.
22:06You know, having such a close connection to Pat.
22:10What she thought of him,
22:12and what, you know, she feels about Kelso's death
22:15and how it's been handled since.
22:19So, yeah, let's give her a call.
22:30Hello?
22:31Hello, Susie.
22:33It's Vicky.
22:34Hello, love.
22:35Nice to meet you.
22:36Really nice to meet you.
22:37Thanks so much for talking to me.
22:39You're welcome.
22:40How did Pat Digby come into your life?
22:44Basically, he was your mum's boyfriend.
22:46Yeah, he was in the house for a few years
22:49before they actually lived together, I think.
22:51OK.
22:52Susie, do you mind me asking,
22:54what was your relationship like with him?
22:55I hated him from day one.
22:58He made our lives hell.
23:01Given your experience and your time with Pat,
23:04did you have your suspicions
23:05that he was involved with Kelso's murder?
23:09I know he's on it.
23:10I know he's on it,
23:11cos you told me he did.
23:13He told you?
23:14What...
23:14Can you tell me more about that?
23:17Basically, we'd had another punch-up,
23:20and somebody had said something,
23:21and I said,
23:21you did killing your effing something.
23:25Yeah.
23:26And he said,
23:27well, it's something you'll never be able to prove anyway.
23:30I mean, even his own mates know it.
23:33It's what they always said,
23:35it was the worst-kept secret in Notting Hill.
23:37Really?
23:38It was thought up a few times at my mum's house.
23:41If there was a black guy who'd been stabbed to death or shot,
23:44somebody would turn around and say,
23:46there's another black basket gone.
23:47And somebody would turn up and say,
23:52well, you got away with it, Diggo, didn't you?
23:55Wow.
23:56Gosh.
24:04We're digging deep into the 1959 murder
24:08of Kelso Cochran in Notting Hill,
24:10a crime which has remained unsolved
24:12for over half a century.
24:14But at last,
24:16we've found someone willing to name names.
24:19Was there any stage where you thought,
24:20I should go to the police?
24:22No, because I was convinced.
24:25Nobody would believe me.
24:27Susie Reid,
24:28the stepdaughter of well-known local gang member,
24:31Patrick Digby,
24:32says that he told her
24:33on the night of the 16th of May, 1959,
24:37he and another man stabbed Kelso to death.
24:41The way in which it was reported,
24:42it was as if it was a robbery gone wrong.
24:45You know, that was kind of...
24:47Never in your life.
24:48No.
24:48Never in your life.
24:49That was set out to be done.
24:51To me, that was the biggest cover-up going.
24:55Within the police?
24:57Well, yeah.
24:57Yeah.
24:58He's in the full newspapers.
25:00And if Pat had have been convicted,
25:03what would you have wanted to have seen
25:06happen to him at that time?
25:07Obviously, it's a different time.
25:09He shouldn't run.
25:09Should have held.
25:10I think he shouldn't run.
25:11Yeah.
25:12There's no way to run.
25:13He knew what he was doing.
25:15Yeah.
25:15He always said, even though he was drunk,
25:17he knew what he was doing.
25:28Whilst Vicky is on the trail of Pat Digby,
25:31I'm searching for crucial files
25:32about the police investigation.
25:34These were finally released
25:35to Kelso Cochran's family in 2024,
25:38only after a long legal battle
25:40with the Metropolitan Police.
25:43OK, so the first three searches
25:46to come up for Kelso Cochran
25:48in the National Archives,
25:50they're all witness statements,
25:52and they're all closed for 75 years.
25:57So nobody is having any information
26:00on these records, the first three,
26:02until the 1st of January, 2044.
26:05Another one.
26:07Closed for 75 years.
26:09Wow.
26:09I always thought growing up
26:12it was 30 years, possibly 50.
26:14I didn't know you could close something for 75 years.
26:16Why would you do that?
26:17With a murder?
26:18It was a robbery.
26:19It went wrong.
26:20That doesn't make any sense.
26:22OK, here we go.
26:24Unsolved murder of Kelso Cochran,
26:2717th of May, positive witness statements,
26:29and handwritten originals.
26:31Let's try this one.
26:31They were closed until August 2024,
26:34so you can book a visit
26:36or request a copy.
26:38Certainly request a copy of that.
26:41But it's fascinating that some
26:43were allowed to be open in 2024,
26:47but others have got 20 years at least
26:50till they open.
26:54Now, I want to find out why.
27:04Hopefully, we'll find some answers
27:06with a visit to the National Archives in Kew.
27:14Kelso Cochran, murder inquiry.
27:16Part three.
27:18Harrow Road Police Station,
27:2018th of May, 1959.
27:22Yeah.
27:23So this is a statement of Patrick Raymond Digby.
27:26Aged 20 years, unemployed.
27:33I cannot help the police regarding this matter.
27:36I was not in the group of men
27:37who assaulted the man who has since died.
27:40At the time of the incident,
27:41I was at the party at Sudham Street,
27:43which is a fair distance away.
27:47This statement has been read,
27:49and it's true and correct.
27:51Statement taken, read over,
27:53and signature witness by Detective Inspector Walker.
27:57Okay, so he's saying he was in the party all night.
28:01Here's another statement from him.
28:03I want to tell you the truth.
28:04Okay.
28:05How long, what's the date difference?
28:07Let's have a look.
28:0918th of May.
28:10So the same day.
28:12So he's obviously got him back in.
28:13So the same day, he's gone,
28:15I want to tell you the truth.
28:15So with me, I'd say,
28:17well, so everything you said in the last one
28:18that wasn't the truth,
28:19is that what you...
28:20I didn't know what the time would have been,
28:22but whilst at the party at Sudham Street,
28:24I had an argument with Johnny Bra...
28:26Johnny Bragan.
28:26Oh, Bragan.
28:28I don't know how he came to be at the party.
28:30He did not come with us.
28:32Okay, so that's interesting.
28:32He's had an argument with Johnny Bragan, okay?
28:34This nearly caused a fight,
28:35and to cool off,
28:36Bragan and I left the address
28:38and walked up Sudham Street to Golden Road.
28:40Golden Road.
28:40So he's saying now,
28:41he's saying now,
28:41I did leave the party.
28:42After the fight,
28:44wound up, you know, angry.
28:46They'd been drinking.
28:47Yeah.
28:47All the signs, you know?
28:49Bragan and I were arguing,
28:50and I saw five youths,
28:52all aged about 17 to 18 years old,
28:55walking towards us from Kensal Road.
28:58They passed us and turned left
28:59into Sudham Street out of my view.
29:01Bragan and I stopped our rowing
29:03and walked back the way we had come.
29:04We turned into Sudham Street,
29:06and I saw a coloured man,
29:08again, terminology at the time,
29:09sitting in the gutter by the kerb
29:10just around the corner
29:11from the entrance to the laundry.
29:13I didn't see the five youths
29:14who had passed us on Goldbone Road,
29:16but I thought at the time
29:17they must have done him
29:18because there was no one else to be seen.
29:20I did not speak to the man
29:21who'd been in the gutter,
29:23did not say anything to me.
29:24Bragan did not speak to him either.
29:26I thought he had a kick in
29:27and left him because I saw
29:29the two other coloured men come in,
29:30and they might have thought
29:31we were responsible.
29:34So them two were basically like,
29:37you know,
29:37got together and sort of worked out something.
29:39You know, they've had time to sort of
29:41colour hit their stories, really.
29:44What was going on?
29:45Were they sat in cells next to each other?
29:47It's interesting that him and Bragan,
29:50they both admit they were there,
29:51that they had some kind of contact with him,
29:53that they'd seen him.
29:53They didn't say that,
29:54obviously they wouldn't have said
29:55they attacked him,
29:56but they both say we were there.
30:03There's another statement here,
30:05but I don't recognise this name.
30:07A statement of Stanley Baker,
30:08Harrow Road Police Station.
30:10On Tuesday the 12th of March,
30:121957,
30:14so this is two years before,
30:16as a result of a call
30:18at about 11pm,
30:20we went to Harrow Road Police Station,
30:22where I saw three men.
30:24Got a line out here that's been redacted.
30:26But Bragan's there, look.
30:27John William Bragan.
30:28Yeah.
30:29His name is still in there.
30:30I ain't got there yet.
30:31John William Bragan,
30:32I told them all
30:34that they had been identified
30:35by a coloured man,
30:37redacted.
30:38As the three men
30:39who had attacked him
30:40earlier in the evening,
30:41both made replies,
30:43and Bragan said,
30:44if he has identified me,
30:46just bring him in.
30:48I'll do five years for him.
30:49All three men were later charged,
30:51and neither made any reply.
30:53As the men were being placed
30:55into the cells,
30:56Bragan said,
30:56if I do time for one of them...
30:59Oh, God.
31:00If I do time for one of them...
31:02spades,
31:03I'll kill one of the...
31:05when I come out,
31:06and I mean that too.
31:08Okay, so he's basically saying,
31:09I'll do time for these people,
31:11but when I come out,
31:12I'm going to kill them.
31:14And I mean that too.
31:16After my chat with Susie,
31:17who is obviously Digby's stepdaughter,
31:21she was so certain it was Digby,
31:24but my gut instinct is
31:25it was Bragan and it was Digby.
31:29Whoever gave the fatal blow
31:33will never know.
31:35Okay, so Bragan's already been to jail,
31:37stabbing three black men,
31:39and has said,
31:40I'll kill one of the...
31:41when I come out,
31:42and I mean that too.
31:44They've literally got
31:45a motive here.
31:47And when did the murder take place?
31:49Ten days after he was released from prison,
31:52and they know that he said,
31:53and I mean that too,
31:55I'm going to do it again,
31:57and they've got him there.
31:58I mean...
31:59That's absolutely...
32:00That is appalling policing.
32:02Well, it's just appalling justice,
32:03appalling everything, isn't it?
32:04The evidence is there.
32:06Why weren't they investigated further?
32:09And why weren't they charged
32:11with Kelso Cochran's murder?
32:29Hi, Mark.
32:31Hello.
32:31Criminal historian Dr Mark Roodhouse
32:34also immersed himself in those files
32:36when they were made available
32:37for the first time in 2024.
32:40I'd be interested to hear his thoughts
32:42on the investigation.
32:44It was just quite a shock
32:46to the modern system, really,
32:48to see the way things were reported
32:49and recorded there, wasn't it?
32:51I mean, that's one of the things
32:52about the particular case
32:53you're looking at,
32:53which is fascinating.
32:54There are files and files and files
32:56of material,
32:57which are interviews with locals.
32:59In a sense,
33:01their thoroughness
33:02overwhelmed the investigation.
33:04Yeah, it did feel like
33:05some of the statements
33:06sort of had a lot of detail,
33:08but it was a lot of knotty nonsense.
33:11The two statements that Digby made
33:13that are practically hours apart...
33:15Yeah, Digby and Bregan
33:17were in Harrow Road police station
33:19for two days.
33:20Whether there was any moment
33:21in those two days
33:22when they had an opportunity
33:23to talk to one another,
33:25we can't tell from the files.
33:26Whether their solicitors conferred,
33:29whether they had the same solicitor,
33:30I don't know.
33:31but there's clearly
33:33a change in strategy.
33:35Can you tell us more
33:36about how Ian Forbes Leith
33:38led the case?
33:40His job was managing other people.
33:42So put him in a room
33:44with someone who is
33:47a hardened criminal,
33:49experienced,
33:50not scared of the police,
33:51not scared of interrogation rooms,
33:54who knows to stonewall,
33:56knows to lie,
33:57and he probably doesn't have
34:00the same level of skill
34:02or ability in interrogation
34:03to break that person down.
34:05I mean, an officer
34:06who had those things
34:07in their locker
34:08perhaps could have cracked this case.
34:10Mm.
34:11Do you think possibly
34:13there's pressure
34:14when we have to go,
34:14this is not one we want to sort of...
34:16If you put sort of...
34:17Obviously, there's still
34:18capital punishment,
34:19people could still be hung.
34:20Yeah.
34:21Do we want to put a white man
34:22in the dark
34:22and possibly be hung
34:23in that area
34:24or from that area?
34:25I think those are the conversations
34:27that are taking place.
34:28Yeah.
34:28I think there's a lot of pressure
34:30on Forbes Leith here,
34:32a huge amount of pressure on him.
34:33The white community
34:34and the black community,
34:35how will they react
34:36to either the suspects
34:39being released
34:39or the suspects being charged
34:41and then prosecuted?
34:43It's a real
34:45tinderbox moment.
34:47We've also read a bit
34:48about John Bragan's
34:49past conviction
34:50for another racially motivated
34:52assault in 1957.
34:53Can you tell us
34:54more about that?
34:56Well, I mean,
34:56there's much more.
34:58It gets worse.
34:59Oh, OK.
35:00So I'd like to show you something,
35:01which are the sentencing remarks
35:03from the 1957 trial.
35:06Yeah.
35:06So a celebrated barrister
35:09called Victor Durand,
35:10he said that Bregan
35:11and the two other men involved
35:13that they had made
35:13a vicious,
35:14yet entirely unprovoked,
35:16attack with knives
35:17on three coloured men
35:18who were peacefully
35:19walking towards their homes
35:21late at night.
35:22I mean, the echo
35:23of what happened
35:24to Kelso
35:25is so obvious there.
35:26My issue is,
35:29Bregan, he was so dangerous.
35:31Yeah.
35:31And so viciously racist.
35:34Yeah.
35:34And so keeping him
35:36out of prison
35:37just seems like
35:38such a wild decision
35:39to make
35:40when you're, you know,
35:41heading up the police
35:42and wanting to keep
35:43your community safe
35:44and not have to revisit
35:46the same problem again.
35:48So if you're a jury
35:50or a jury member,
35:51in a case like this,
35:52you are going to be
35:53taking great, great care
35:55over the evidence.
35:57And, you know,
35:58no one wants to hang
35:59the wrong person
36:00for the wrong crime.
36:02And so I think
36:03there's a sense in which
36:04Forbes Leith
36:06wants to create
36:07the best case.
36:08He thinks probably
36:09the worst thing
36:10that could happen
36:10is for the case
36:12to go to the Old Bailey
36:13and Bregan and the others
36:15to be found not guilty.
36:17Yeah.
36:17I know who did this.
36:19In the court of history,
36:21Bregan is guilty.
36:22Yeah.
36:23As charged.
36:24But my rules of evidence
36:26were not the rules of court.
36:27No.
36:28This is a dangerous man
36:29and he went on
36:31to do something
36:31equally dangerous.
36:32In 1961, in Acton,
36:35he burst into a house
36:38late at night.
36:39The occupants of the main house
36:40were a Polish jeweler
36:41and his Polish wife.
36:43They tied up
36:45the jeweler,
36:47the wife,
36:48and Bregan
36:49led this home invasion
36:50and he raped the wife
36:52four times.
36:55I thought you were
36:56going to say that.
36:58The difference
37:00with this case
37:01is that it was robbery.
37:03That means this goes
37:05to Scotland Yard
37:06and the Flying Squad.
37:07So, two days
37:09after the home invasion,
37:11a detective sergeant
37:12tasked to investigate
37:13brings all three in
37:15and gets them to confess.
37:17Bregan gets ten years
37:18at the old Bailey.
37:19Okay.
37:20And I suspect
37:21that was also seen
37:23by a lot of people
37:24as the least he was due.
37:34Whether it was
37:35John Bregan
37:36or Pat Digby
37:38who wielded the knife
37:39that killed
37:39Kelso Cochran
37:40on the 17th of May
37:421959,
37:43we'll never know
37:44for certain.
37:46The failings
37:47of the criminal investigation
37:48mean that justice
37:49was denied
37:49for Kelso Cochran
37:50and his family.
37:52But his legacy
37:53lives on.
37:55This is it.
37:57This is the church.
37:58The church
37:58where they held
37:59the service.
38:00It's funeral.
38:00June the 6th,
38:011959.
38:02A huge crowd.
38:03You can see
38:04in the photograph here
38:04there's the junction
38:06of the road.
38:06You see the sign?
38:07Ladbroke Grove.
38:08Yeah.
38:09But look at that.
38:10Look at the people
38:10that have turned out.
38:11People of all colours,
38:13religion,
38:14packed.
38:15Over a thousand people there.
38:17So you can feel
38:17through that photograph
38:18the strength of feeling
38:19in the community.
38:22That everybody
38:23sort of came together
38:24for a moment
38:24as often happens
38:26in life.
38:27They must have just
38:27come to a point
38:28where they've gone
38:29this has got to stop.
38:30You know,
38:31that's proof
38:31of the community
38:32going we're not
38:33having this anymore
38:34quite rightly.
38:35You know,
38:36that's 1,200 people there
38:37which in that day
38:39would have been
38:40you know,
38:40a large portion
38:41of the community
38:42wanting something special,
38:44wanting something
38:45to signify a moment
38:47that we're not
38:48going back in time
38:50and then we have
38:51the carnival.
38:52Yeah.
38:52And that's where
38:53it was born I guess.
38:54Yeah, absolutely.
38:55But I'd like to know
38:56how soon after
38:58and you know
38:59how it all really
39:00came about
39:00from that moment.
39:02We find out.
39:03I think we should, yeah.
39:30Hi Norman,
39:31I'm Vicky.
39:32Hi Vicky.
39:33Pleasure to meet you.
39:34Over two decades
39:35DJ Norman Jay
39:36and his good times
39:37Fumbus
39:38were an iconic
39:39part of the carnival.
39:40Johnny, take it for you.
39:42Thank you very much.
39:43But his connection
39:43to the event
39:44goes much further back.
39:46So carnival, Norman,
39:48sort of had an age
39:49influence on your
39:49life and career really?
39:50Yeah, it did.
39:51I've often said
39:52if it wasn't for
39:53not in the carnival
39:54there'd have been
39:54no Norman Jay.
39:55Wow.
39:56Yeah, wow.
39:56What were your
39:57first recollections,
39:58Norman, of the carnival itself?
39:59What was your
40:00first memories of it?
40:01My first memories
40:02of carnival
40:03would have been
40:03mid-60s.
40:05Might have been
40:05nine or ten
40:06or something like that.
40:07But I really wasn't
40:09into it.
40:10As a family,
40:10my parents
40:11made us
40:12come there
40:12reluctantly.
40:13And I really,
40:14like loads of other
40:15guys of my generation,
40:17we didn't really
40:18relate to it
40:18and didn't realise
40:20the social importance
40:21to the community
40:22of what carnival meant.
40:32The Trinidadians
40:34bought carnival,
40:35which is like
40:36open celebration.
40:37You trace the history
40:38of that.
40:39It's about mocking
40:40the slave owners
40:41and not letting them
40:43understand what was
40:43going on.
40:44You were able to
40:45practise your own
40:45religion,
40:46your own belief.
40:47You could dress up
40:48and basically mock
40:49the people
40:49who were oppressing you.
40:50Yes.
40:51Did you know
40:51at that point
40:52that part of its
40:53birth was through
40:55Kelso Cochran's death?
40:56Yes, I was aware
40:58of that.
40:58And I remember
40:59years later
41:00my mum telling me
41:00that when Cochran died,
41:02how at that period
41:03she was so frightened.
41:05Yeah.
41:06My mum was really
41:07fearful because
41:08my mum has
41:08myself and my brother
41:10Joey,
41:10two little kids
41:11in a pram
41:12and in one room.
41:14And my mum said
41:15one evening
41:16my pram was placed
41:17in the window
41:18on the first floor
41:19and a brick
41:20came through the window
41:21and all the broken glass
41:22landed in my cot.
41:25And at that
41:27my mum just said
41:28no,
41:29we're out of here
41:29however way
41:31we can.
41:33It's amazing
41:34when you said
41:34Norman
41:35that if there was
41:35no carnival
41:36there'd be no
41:36Norman J
41:37but if there was
41:38no Kelso
41:39and obviously
41:39the riot here
41:40before there
41:41would have been
41:41no carnival
41:41would there?
41:42It was the community
41:42putting that on
41:44that was the catalyst
41:45wasn't it?
41:45Yeah that was the catalyst.
41:46It's only now
41:47in my more senior years
41:49that I recognise
41:50the social importance
41:52of what I was doing
41:53at the time.
41:55You know
41:56getting justice
41:57for those people
41:58and families
41:59is the priority.
42:00That's what
42:01carnival really celebrates
42:02now.
42:08It's not been
42:09an easy story
42:10to unpick.
42:12No.
42:12You know
42:13I've found it
42:14quite heartbreaking
42:15because it felt
42:16like it was
42:17so cold blooded
42:18and there was
42:18absolutely no rhyme
42:19or reason
42:20other than race.
42:21No.
42:22And knowing
42:23Kelso Cochran's name
42:25feels so important
42:26not just to
42:27Notting Hill
42:27but to London
42:28and the world
42:29given that
42:30so many people
42:31come over
42:31to London
42:32to Notting Hill
42:33for the carnival.
42:34The area.
42:34This whole area.
42:36Portobello Road.
42:36Yeah it's this whole area
42:38it's like a massive
42:38tourist attraction now
42:39but then it was a ghetto
42:40basically.
42:41It's the biggest carnival
42:42and so
42:43for every single person
42:44that comes here
42:46you kind of go
42:47just have an understanding
42:48as to where it began
42:50with Kelso's murder.
42:52And slight frustration
42:53for me
42:54that they got away with it.
42:55I know.
42:55Well I mean
42:56the injustice of it
42:57is what's so heartbreaking.
42:59They should have been
42:59held to account
43:00shouldn't they really?
43:00All those awful things
43:01you know
43:02alcohol
43:03hatred
43:04racial tension
43:05miserable social conditions
43:08this is like
43:09such an important moment
43:10in British post-war history.
43:11You wanted to learn this
43:12in school wouldn't you?
43:13Yeah.
43:14A very sad story to tell
43:16but one that was
43:17so important to be told.
43:19I agree.
43:20God bless you Kelso.
43:21God bless you Kelso.
43:29Next time
43:30it's about
43:31a transatlantic
43:33chase after
43:34the killer.
43:36Sometimes people
43:37just do
43:37terrible things.
43:39What happened
43:40to Kola Krippen?
43:41The gruesomeness
43:42of the find.
43:43We tested the DNA
43:45on the remains
43:46and I was
43:47blown away.
44:08what happened
44:21to Kola Krippenis
44:22is His B Passover
44:22of His B own
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