'I've not had a youth' Bittersweet release of man jailed as gang member on wrongful drill video evidence

Bittersweet release of man jailed as gang member on wrongful drill video evidence

- Jessica Murray

On his release from prison in January, after serving three years for a crime he didn't commit, 21-year-old Ade Adedeji had only one thing on his mind – a trip to Burger King.

“The first thing I wanted to do was eat a Burger King. And hug my family, of course,” he said. “I thought I was getting out in 2027, so I had planned out the first three days. But then it happened so unexpectedly, and everything was just mad.”

Along with 10 other black teenagers in Manchester, he was jailed in 2022 for supposedly being part of a violent conspiracy after sending a handful of messages in a group chat, in a case that prompted widespread outrage.

His conviction was quashed in January after new evidence showed he had been wrongfully identified in a drill music video, which had been presented to the jury as evidence that he was a violent gang member.

Adedeji said this was plainly not true. He was head boy at school, a youth leader, and had offers to study law at university and plans for a book. “I feel like it has got to do with race, because if a white person said [what I said], I don’t think they’d be in the same position as me. They wouldn’t,” Adedeji said. “But because I’m perceived as black, I’m seen as aggressive, a gang member. Well, I’m not.”

Adedeji said he could vividly remember the moment in January when he was told he would finally be going home after spending more than three years – about 1,183 days – in prison.

“I didn’t believe it. I remember tearing up. The whole wing, the whole jail, knew about my case, everyone was rooting for me,” he said. “So when the news came in, the place just erupted. Everyone was smiling, laughing, music was playing.”