Bridgewater Four

The Bridgewater Four is the collective name given to the four men who were tried and found guilty of killing 13-year-old paperboy Carl Bridgewater, who was shot in the head at close range near Stourbridge, England, in 1978.

In February 1997, after almost two decades of imprisonment, their convictions were overturned on technical grounds and the three surviving defendants were released; the fourth defendant had died in prison two years into his sentence. Bridgewater's murder remains officially unsolved.

Carl Bridgewater (2 January 1965 - 19 September 1978) was shot dead on 19 September 1978 at Yew Tree Farm near Stourbridge, Staffordshire, while delivering a newspaper to the house. The occupants of the house – elderly cousins Mary Poole and Fred Jones – were not home at the time. Police conjecture that Bridgewater may have disturbed an intruder or burglar, and was subsequently forced into the living room of the house where he was shot once in the head at close range with a shotgun.

The Bridgewater Four were Patrick Molloy, James Robinson and cousins Michael Hickey and Vincent Hickey.

They came to the attention of police working on the murder investigation following further serious crimes later in 1978. On 24 November, Robinson, Michael Hickey and an unidentified third man carried out an armed robbery at a Tesco supermarket on the Castle Vale estate in Birmingham. Hickey and Robinson raided the safe while the third man held several terrified shoppers at bay with a gun. When the manager tried to intervene a shot was fired over his head.

Six days later, Robinson and the Hickey brothers robbed an elderly couple at Chapel Farm, Romsley, near Halesowen. Vincent Hickey stayed in the car while Robinson and Michael Hickey charged into the house wearing balaclavas, brandishing a shotgun and shouting for money. The victims of this robbery displayed great courage but the robbers got away with £200. Robinson took the lead, hitting one of the victims with the gun but not firing it.

Molloy was the first to be arrested. During questioning which also covered Carl's murder, Molloy told police that he had been in an upstairs bedroom at Yew Tree Farm while robbing the house when he heard a gunshot downstairs. Shortly afterwards, the other three men were arrested.

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