‘I was sentenced to 20 years for a crime I didn’t commit’-Sarah Ingram-Entertainment – Metro

It’s been 50 years since George was wrongly convicted of robbing a bank (Picture: Sky History)

Half a century has passed since George Davis was arrested for a crime he was wrongfully accused of, but he still clearly remembers the day he was sent down.

‘I was with three others; two got acquitted and one got a retrial. I was the only one convicted,’ he tells Metro Metro from his home in Muswell Hill. ‘I felt strong. I stood up and I said to the judge: “I cannot and will not accept this verdict and I will fight it in any way possible.” Funnily enough the judge said: “Well I can and I do,” and gave me twenty years.

‘I was alright until that point. And then I felt a little bit faint,’ adds George, 83.

As he watched his associates leave for home, George contemplated his future to the sound of outraged screams from the Old Bailey’s public gallery.

‘I was the only one going to prison. You think: “You can’t be convicted. You’re innocent. It’s impossible.” Especially for something so serious,’ he remembers.

‘I was taken to Wormwood Scrubs and they put me in a cell. I think I shed a few tears. I’d never been to prison before. I wasn’t worried about coping. It was just the thought of how long.’

George had been convicted of the armed robbery of the London Electricity Board after four armed men burst into the offices in April 1974, making away with the equivalent of £77,585 in payroll.

Two officers gave chase, one was shot in the leg, and the robbers got away by commandeering cars. The men, who were wearing motorcycle helmets and a flying hat, weren’t identifiable.

A Volkswagen car being checked by an expert at Bethnal Green Police Station following the robbery (Picture: Mike Hollist)

With no forensic evidence and no eyewitnesses, the police ‘were pulling everyone in because two policemen got injured,’ explains George, who was taken in for questioning twice and released both times.

Then on 17 May 1974 he was picked up for a third time and placed in an ID parade in front of 40 people. Five police officers said they recognised him and he was charged with armed robbery and attempted murder of two police officers and convicted the following year.

‘I knew I was being fitted up. And I was going to prison for a long time,’ he says.

George’s east London community staunchly believed in his innocence and from the moment of his arrest a huge campaign, led by his wife Rose and friend Peter Chappell, who had been with George (miles away in Bow) at the time of the robbery.

Incensed, Peter drove a lorry to Fleet Street and drove through the front window of the Daily Mirror, backed it out and drove into the Mail, the Express and the Telegraph. He then drove down the Mall towards Buckingham Palace and through the gates. He flew to Paris, threw a brick through the window of the British Embassy, went inside, put his passport on the desk and said ‘George Davis is innocent, Ok’. Peter was arrested and released – and a slogan was born. 

Friends and family of convicted armed robber George Davis, led by wife Rose Davis, protest his innocence by marching from Tower Hill To Downing Street (Picture: Evening News/Shutterstock)

After George was convicted, Peter and Rose stepped up their campaign. Regular marches were held, protestations of George’s innocence were painted on public buildings and bridges and posters, badges and T-shirts stating ‘George Davis is Innocent OK’ were made.

People were angry about the injustice and a fault line was opened up in society. The Who had a benefit gig for George and punk band Sham 69 wrote a song about him.

As the weeks went by, the stunts got more outrageous. George’s brother-in-law waded naked into the pond at Victoria Park for headlines while police officers in a row boat paddled to get him and Rose protested outside Scotland Yard on Christmas Day.

Meanwhile, George settled into prison life. He was moved from Wormwood Scrubs, to Brixton, to HMP Albany on the Isle of Wight where other inmates, believing in his innocence, took him under their wing and passed him news clippings about the campaign.

But it was the Ashes campaign that did it. In August 1975, Peter and three others traveled to Headingley in Leeds to gouge the pitch and pour oil on it. On the stadium walls they wrote: ‘Sorry. It had to be done’ and the match was abandoned. Peter Chappell was arrested and sent to prison for 18 months, where he continued to protest from behind bars, writing slogans on T-shirts and writing on walls.

Peter spent time in jail for wrecking the Headingley Test wicket and other stunts connected with the campaign (Picture: Mike Hollist)

However, all the noise seemed to work and in 1976 George was suddenly freed when then Home Secretary Roy Jenkins issued a Royal Prerogative.

He tells Metro: ‘I was doing a horticulture course and we used to have a day or two a week in the classroom. I was in the classroom and a screw came in and told me I had to go and see the assistant governor. So they took me out and he came along with another screw and took me to a small office at the back of the wing. He read out a letter from Home Secretary Roy Jenkins and the only bit I heard was “we can no longer keep this man in prison and he should be released today”.’

George was released and sent straight back to London on the train where he was met with crowds of cheering supporters at Waterloo.

George Davis celebrating his release with his wife Rose (Picture: Ronald Spencer)

‘It was really weird. I wish I could get the same feeling that I had on that day. It was like nothing I’ve felt before or will feel again. It was just incredible. We got home and there was crowds outside where we lived and everyone in my family was there. It was a lovely feeling but poor old Pete in the meantime was still in prison,’ he says

George remains grateful for all the support he received from his then wife Rose, the public, his lawyers and Peter and his wife Shirley. ‘God, I’m grateful. You can’t explain it. How can you repay someone who has gone to prison for you? It’s impossible’, he says.

George with Peter Chappell in 1977 (Picture: Mike Hollist)

But after the buzz died down, George started drinking. He tells Metro: ‘It’s pointless saying I was an angel. That would be ridiculous. I wasn’t. When I came home [from prison], I became paranoid. Within a few days I kept thinking people were looking at me. They weren’t. It was me. I would stay out all night, not come back til the early hours, I wasn’t working. I became selfish and then I got involved.’

In September 1977, George robbed the Bank of Cyprus in London and, caught red-handed, was sentenced to 15 years in jail, reduced to 11 years on appeal. A betrayed Rose left him and when she died in 2009 she left instructions that George shouldn’t attend her funeral.

George turned to drink following his release (Picture: Rexmailpix)

When George committed the crime, did he think about all the people who had fought to set him free?

‘No. Because you don’t think you’re going to get caught. I was quite selfish in the fact that I did it. I did the robbery because I wanted money. I knew quite a few people. I would never mention names but it was what I did and that was that. I pleaded guilty and went to prison.’ 

In 2011, George and Peter went to the Appeal Court to hear his conviction for the 1974 robbery be overturned, before getting very drunk.

George adds: ‘I’m quite happy in myself now. I want people to know that I am innocent of [the 1974] offence. And how lucky was I that these people came out in their hoards and went on that campaign and brought it to life.

‘I don’t think they would have given me the Royal Prerogative without that campaign. I think they forced the Government into doing that. And rightly so. Because I shouldn’t have been in prison.

‘I’m okay now. The last time I was in prison was 1987. But after that, I did a few jobs. I worked in medical transport and I loved that. It’s amazing. All those years I didn’t go to work and then I really enjoyed working. And I felt I was doing a bit of good. But I’m quite happy in myself now.

Does he have any regrets? ‘No I don’t. Perhaps I should, but I don’t. I can’t have regrets. I did wrong, I got caught. But I don’t think about it in that respect.’ 

George’s story appears on documentary The Guilty Innocent with Christopher Eccleston on Sky HISTORY

Entertainment – MetroRead More