A mum who has spent the last 25 years searching for the truth about her son's death says someone has approached her with new information that could shed light on the investigation.
Ricky Reel, from West London, was just 20 when he told his mum Sukhdev Reel that he was going out with three of his friends on October 14, 1997.
The friends, who are all South Asian, later told police they were attacked by two white men, who were described as being aged between 18 and 30, who reportedly shouted at them "P***s go home" before throwing punches at them.
In the chaos, all four of them split up and ran in different directions to safety and when the three friends regrouped they couldn't find Ricky.
On this day 25 years ago, the police found Ricky's body in the River Thames after seven minutes of searching. No one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with Ricky's death.
The Mirror has learned that Mrs Reel was contacted by someone in July claiming to know who killed her son Ricky and that it was racially motivated, giving the family fresh hope for a cold case review.
Ricky's case has remained open after a jury inquest ruled an "open verdict" in 1999.
The campaign has urgently requested a face-to-face meeting with the new Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley following new information that could potentially spark a cold case review.
Speaking today, Mrs Reel told The Mirror she won't accept anything less than a face-to-face meeting with Sir Mark.
She said: "It's been 25 years, we deserve a face-to-face meeting with the commissioner.
"If he can't meet us then we demand he puts his reasons on paper and explains why he isn't acknowledging us so I know what I need to do next to get in front of him."
In a letter addressed to Sir Rowley in August and seen by The Mirror, it reads: "New information has come to light that requires a thorough review by your cold case team of investigators.
"Last month, Mrs Reel received a phone call from a male who claims that Ricky Reel was killed by a [name redacted] motivated by the perpetrator's racist views.
"Mrs Reel believes that this information is solid and is willing to provide further information to a police investigator."
Suresh Grover, a legal activist and Co-Director of the Monitoring Group (formerly the Southall Monitoring Group), has been working alongside Mrs Reel since Ricky went missing.
Mr Grover told The Mirror: "There are people coming forward saying they know someone who is responsible for Ricky's death.
"I sent the Met Police Commissioner a letter saying this and they should take statements from them.
"Secondly, the technology over the last 25 years has improved and the images can be enhanced.
"In my experience, people also always get involved in cases during anniversaries. We should do a cold case review."
He added that he received a response from a detective from the Specialist Casework Team saying they will be in contact to update the campaign if any action will be taken.
Mr Grover told The Mirror last night that the campaign hopes they will have a meeting in early November.
A Met Police spokesperson confirmed they had received the information and they are making "arrangements to meet Ricky’s family in due course".
It comes as Sir Rowley said hundreds of Met Police officers deserved to be sacked following Baroness Louise Casey's report into the force's misconduct system.
When Sir Rowley took over the force from Dame Cressida Dick he also said he would "root out the racism" that still existed in the force.
If this new information proves to be credible then the family can apply to reopen the inquest, leading lawyer Michael Mansfield, KC, said.
Mr Mansfield was the family's lawyer during the inquest in 1999. He told The Mirror: "The truth always comes out in the end. It rises to the surface slowly and appears from unlikely sources.
"We hope that this information provides a lead into reopening matters. Someone has come forward to Ricky's mum who says they know all about this.
"If it is credible, fresh evidence it can lead to the inquest being reopened. This is why it's important for people to come forward."
Mrs Reel told The Mirror last week about how the police failed her family multiple times in the past 25 years.
The police at the time concluded there and then that Ricky had fallen in accidentally while trying to urinate and must have drowned.
It was later heard at the inquest that police did not collect any forensic evidence from the scene or from Ricky's clothes.
Police assumed he fell in while urinating because the buttons on his jeans were open, however, the inquest heard from family and experts that Ricky had a phobia of open water and that it was common for clothes to open and loosen in water.
The inquest heard that police did not collect vital CCTV in time or speak to potential witnesses until months after Ricky's death - meaning any chance of finding crucial clues was missed.
Mrs Reel has maintained that police did not take the case seriously and failed to gather crucial evidence because of Ricky's race.
She said: "The police refused to take a statement from them [the friends]. They then said 'you never know he may not want to come home. He may have decided to run away, maybe he's gay and he's too frightened to come home.'
"'You never know, you Asian people try to arrange your children's marriages.
"They said this knowing there was a racial attack. This told us the police were not interested in looking for Ricky.
"We are Asian and they thought an Asian life is not worth it. The victims were attacked, Asian boys were attacked and my son is missing after this racial attack."
She continued: "They (police) didn't prioritise it from day one. They didn't believe us.
"They belittled us simply because of the colour of my skin. Had I been white the treatment would have been very different.
"They never believed the racial attack happened. They never connected it."
In 1998, a Police Complaints Authority (PCA) report (now the Independent Office for Police Conduct) - which has never been made public - found there were "weaknesses" within the organisation that led to the "neglect" from the investigating officers.
John McDonnell, Mrs Reel's Labour MP for Hayes and Harlington, used his parliamentary privilege to reveal the contents of the report in the House of Commons in 1998.
In 2014, Mrs Reel and the campaign were notified that they had been under surveillance as part of "collateral intrusion".
Speaking last week, Mrs Reel said: "The new Met Police commissioner is saying he’s very hot on dealing with racism and that he has new technology that he can use.
“We are asking for a meeting to discuss this. We have sent three letters and have not even been offered a meeting with him, which is disappointing.
“We have been offered a meeting with other people, but if he’s serious about dealing with racism he needs to meet with the families that are victims of this.
“Our request is to meet him as soon as possible.”
A Met Police spokesperson told The Mirror: "We have received correspondence from Ricky’s family and this has been passed to Specialist Crime Detectives.
"The team has made contact with representatives of Ricky’s family and will assess any further information provided by them or others.
"The team are making arrangements to meet Ricky’s family in due course."
Last week, Commander Catherine Roper, Specialist Crime, said: “It has been 25 years since Ricky died. My thoughts are with Ricky’s family and the pain they must still feel today.
"I hope that this appeal will encourage people to come forward with any piece of information they may have, however small they think it is, to help us piece together what happened that night in Kingston.
"We remain hopeful that we can provide answers for the family, and we need the help of the public to achieve this."
Police urge anyone with information to contact them on 101 or the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously at 0800 555 111.
Mrs Reel's book Rick Reel: Silence Is Not An Option can be bought here.
