R v Betts and Ridley (1930) 22 Cr App R 148 was a 1930 landmark case in English criminal law which established that to be convicted of a crime under the doctrine of common purpose, it was not necessary for the accessory to be present or within sight when the offence was carried out.
[1] Victor Betts and Herbert Ridley agreed to rob a man, William Thomas Andrews, as he was on his way to the bank.
Ridley was charged with aiding and abetting murder and of being an accessory before the act, which, if proven, carried the same default sentence.
However, the Home Secretary advised the King to commute the death sentence in the case of Ridley to life imprisonment.
[2] A crowd of several hundred people gathered as a nearby factory sounded its whistle to mark the execution.