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Ademola Adedeji was ensnared in a murder conspiracy case with no murder victim. Prosecutors labeled him a gang member and won a conviction and eight-year sentence.
Selam Gebrekidan covered Ademola Adedeji’s 2022 trial as part of an investigation into Britain’s criminal justice system.
Jan. 15, 2025, 9:29 p.m. ET
More than two years after he was ensnared in a murder conspiracy case, a young man was freed from prison on Wednesday after Britain’s Court of Appeal found that the authorities had misidentified him in a video.
The man, Ademola Adedeji, 21, was among 10 young Black men from Manchester whom prosecutors had accused of conspiring to murder and maim others to avenge the death of their close friend. Their trial became a lightning rod in the country’s reckoning with race and policing.
“It doesn’t feel real because this happens one in a million times,” Mr. Adedeji said of his release in a phone interview from his parents’ home on Wednesday.
Mr. Adedeji did not attack anyone. Nor did he own a weapon or deal drugs. He helped the police with their investigation. And there was no murder victim.
Nevertheless, he was convicted of conspiracy to cause grievous bodily harm with intent in 2022 and was serving an eight-year term.
