NCA leads new corruption inquiry into handling of Stephen Lawrence murder
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is being investigated for alleged corruption over the initial handling of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) is being investigated for alleged corruption over the initial handling of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has been appointed to lead the inquiry, thought to be the first time it has been called on to investigate alleged force corruption.
The inquiry, active for more than six months, will focus on the first police investigation carried out in 1993 into the 18-year-olds murder.
The new investigation will be overseen by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) and led by Roy McComb, NCA Deputy Director for Specialist Investigations.
It follows a review ordered by Home Secretary, Theresa May, into the concerns of Stephen Lawrences parents. Published in March 2014, it named a former officer as a suspect and advocated further inquiries into others.
The IPCC said it was updating Stephens parents…and Duwayne Brooks, with Stephen the night he was attacked, on progress in the new investigation.
Stephen was stabbed to death by a gang of white youths while he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south east London, on April 22, 1993.
The case is one of the most important in the modern history of the British criminal justice system, having sparked inquiries, reforms of the police and challenges to racial attitudes in Britain.
In January 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of Stephens murder. The two men were arrested and charged, with three others, in 1993 but the case was discontinued for lack of evidence. Later, the Lawrence family failed to secure a private conviction against the five men.
In 2006, the IPCC ordered an investigation into alleged corruption and in 2009 a former police constable and a member of police staff were arrested on suspicion of attempting to pervert the course of justice. They were later released from police bail without charge.
Mrs Lawrence was ennobled for her campaign, becoming Baroness Lawrence of Clarendon in 2013.