Stephen Lawrence

For the Australian footballer, see Steven Lawrence. For the Zimbabwean footballer, see Stephen Lawrence (footballer). For the American child actor, see Steven Anthony Lawrence.

Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager living in London, UK, who was murdered in April 1993 at the age of 18. This came two years after Roland Adams (whom Stephen had known) aged just 15 was stabbed in the neck in a similar murder.

Murder, trials and aftermath

Born in Britain in 1974 to Jamaican parents, Neville and Doreen, Stephen Lawrence was a student who hoped to become an architect. At the time of his death, he was a secondary school sixth former.

He was attacked on 22 April 1993 in Eltham, an area of southeast London. The Police in London said in 2004, "The witness who appeared on the right of the sceen and walked into Rochester Way with Stephen and Duwayne behind is very important to us. We know who this witness is, she knows who she is, we know what she knows. She has never made a statement. This witness may have been the catalyst for the attack". During the attack, one of the assailants yelled a racial slur and the cry of "What? What! Nigger!" was heard as they charged at Lawrence who was suddenly then stabbed in the chest and shoulder. He suffered two deep wounds that cut major arteries, severed a vein and penetrated a lung. Although he tried to escape, he collapsed after running 119 metres and bled to death soon after.

The Crown Prosecution Service brought a case against two suspects but Crown Prosecutor Denzil Pugh, abandoned all charges on 29 July, 1993 after deciding that there was insufficient evidence.

Stephen's family in April 1996 initiated a private prosecution against those two and three other suspects. Charges against the original two suspects were dropped before the trial and the others were acquitted at trial when the judge disallowed eyewitness testimony of Duwayne Brooks.

In February 1997, the Daily Mail, a right wing tabloid abandoned its printed front page accusing supporters of Stephen Lawrence of "political correctness gone mad", when Daily Mail Editor in Chief realised Stephen's father, Neville Lawrence had built an extension to his house.

The Daily Mail then labelled all five suspects "murderers", challenging them to sue the newspaper for libel. The headline read "Murderers: The Mail accuses these men of killing. If we are wrong, let them sue us." Underneath this were pictures of Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight, and David Norris. To date, they have not sued, but have used appearances in the media to protest their innocence. The Attorney General later cleared the Daily Mail of contempt of court. In 1999, all five defendants were prohibited from attending home football games in their community.

In 2002, two of those accused in the Lawrence case, David Norris and Neil Acourt, were convicted and jailed for a racist attack on a black police officer.^[1]

The case spurred changes in British law that would allow future cases to be brought back to court, even after an acquittal. In the Criminal Justice Act 2003, introduced by Home Secretary David Blunkett, Parliament abolished a previously strict prohibition against double jeopardy. Retrials are now allowed if there is 'new and compelling evidence'.

No one has been convicted of Lawrence's murder. The suspected killers, all but one with further police records, are at large and detailed on the Mail website.

Lawrence remembered

An annual architectural prize, the Stephen Lawrence Prize, has been established by the Royal Institute of British Architects in Stephen Lawrence's memory.

His mother, Doreen Lawrence, said, "I would like Stephen to be remembered as a young man who had a future. He was well loved, and had he been given the chance to survive maybe he would have been the one to bridge the gap between black and white because he didn't distinguish between black or white. He saw people as people."

In 1999 Nicholas Kent staged a devised docudrama - The Colour of Justice - based on the trial, at the Tricycle Theatre. It was later filmed by the BBC.

Public inquiries into the police investigation

In 1997, Lawrence's surviving family registered a formal complaint with the Police Complaints Authority, which in 1999 exonerated officers who worked the case of allegations of racism. Only one officer, Senior Detective Inspector Ben Bullock, was ordered to face disciplinary charges for neglect of duty. Bullock, who was second in command of the investigation, was later found guilty of failure to properly brief officers and failure to fully investigate an anonymous letter sent to police, but acquitted of 11 other charges. Four other officers who would have been charged as a result of the inquiry retired before it concluded.

Bullock retired the day after his punishment was announced, which amounted to a caution. Neville Lawrence, father of Stephen Lawrence, criticized the punishment saying Bullock was "guilty on all counts" but a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Federation said Bullock was "largely vindicated" in the proceedings.^[2]

That same year, while the PCA inquiry was ongoing, Home Secretary Jack Straw ordered a public inquiry. During the inquiry, Detective Superintendent Brian Weeden said mistakes had been made during the murder investigation. Results of that inquiry became known as the Macpherson Report, or the Stephen Lawrence Report.

Conducted by Sir William Macpherson, the inquiry found that the Metropolitan Police Service investigation had been incompetent, charging that officers had committed fundamental errors including failing to give first aid when they reached the scene, failing to follow obvious leads during their investigation and failing to arrest suspects. He found that there had been a failure of leadership by senior MPS officers and that recommendations of the 1981 Scarman Report, compiled following race-related riots in Brixton and Toxteth, had been ignored.

Macpherson found that the police were institutionally racist, and made a total of 70 recommendations for reform in his report dated 24 February 1999. His proposals included abolishing the double jeopardy rule and criminalising racist statements made in private. Macpherson also called for reform in the British Civil Service, local government, the British National Health Service, schools and the judicial system to address issues of institutional racism.

On 10 March 2006 the Metropolitan Police Service announced that it would pay Duwayne Brooks £100,000 as compensation for the way police handled his complaints about their actions toward him after the murder.

Alleged police corruption

On 25 July 2006, the Independent Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced it had asked the Metropolitan Police to look into alleged claims of police corruption that may have helped hide the killers of Stephen Lawrence. A BBC investigation alleged that the murder inquiry's Det Sgt John Davidson was paid by a known drug smuggler Clifford Norris, the father of David Norris, a chief suspect in the investigation.^[3] The former Det Sgt has denied any such corruption. The Metropolitan Police Service announced it was to open up a special incident room following the BBC investigation. The Independent Police Complaints Commission stated the claims were unfounded.^[4]

On 27 July 2006, the Daily Mail repeated its famous "Murderers" front page.

"The need to re-establish trust between minority ethnic communities and the police is paramount... seeking to achieve trust and confidence through a demonstration of fairness will not in itself be sufficient. It must be accompanied by a vigorous pursuit of openness and accountability." Macpherson Report (1999)

External links

BBC links

References

Stephen Lawrence case chronology, PBS Masterpiece Theatre
Bullock cautioned as punishment, The Guardian

Bibliography

Ellis, Dr.Frank, The Macpherson Report: 'Anti-racist' Hysteria and the Sovietization of the United Kingdom, published by Right Now Press Ltd., London, 2001,(P/B), ISBN 0-9540534-0-0

Green, David G, (Editor), Institutional Racism and the Police: Fact or Fiction, published by The Institute for the Study of Civil Society 2000, ISBN 1-903 386-06-3

Dennis, Norman; Erdos, George; Al-Shahi, Ahmed; Racist Murder and Pressure Group Politics: The Macpherson Report and the Police, published by The Institute for the Study of Civil Society 2000, ISBN 1-903 386-05-5

Cathcart, Brian; The Case of Stephen Lawrence published by Penguin ISBN 0-14-027905-9

References to Stephen Lawrence in literature

Mundair, Raman, 'An Elegy for Two Boys', from 'Lovers, Liars, Conjurers and Thieves', published by Peepal Tree Press, Leeds, 2003, (P/B), ISBN 1

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