The function ends few lines below. Why is the free() necessary here? Most of the time it is not needed and variables get cleaned up after they go out of scope.
I have added it back since I was not sure why it was called. It might useless though :)
The $ret = null; is redundant
It's unconditionally assigned to in all paths through the if clause
It might be useful to be there to avoid warnings when the code is refactored.
That's why I have put it back. It might avoid errors to.