ABSTRACT
London, England student One of the most haunting and shocking stories of the 1990s was the murder of Stephen Lawrence, an 18-year-old student who wanted to become an architect. Lawrence was killed at a bus stop in Eltham on 22 April 1993, in an attack by five white youths. A week later, an inquest opened into his death and was adjourned. Although the men accused of his murder, Neil and Jamie Acourt, Gary Dobson, Luke Knight and David Norris,
were arrested at different stages in May 1993, the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the murder charges. On 15 August, Scotland Yard announced an internal review of the investigation. Four months later, on 21 December, the inquest was reopened and adjourned after the Metropolitan Police said that it had received new evidence. Stephen's parents, Neville and Doreen, announced that if action was not taken on the new leads they would mount a private prosecution. Their determination for justice and the activities of their solicitor, Imran Khan, led to newspaper investigations and community involvement. The Anti Racist Alliance called on Bexley Council to close the British National Party headquarters in Welling and there were marches. What the Lawrences did not realise at this time was that the case would continue for more than six years with claims by police of insufficient evidence and testimony ruled inadmissible. Indeed, the head of the investigation, Detective Superintendent Brian Weeden, said in 1998, following the public inquiry into Lawrence's death, that he was unaware of the law that would permit him to arrest suspects on suspicion, an admission widely criticised in the media. Lawrence's death also raised issues of how the police approached such cases and most importantly how they reacted when they reached the scene. Police Constable Linda Bethel was one of the first officers on the scene and she admitted that she had not realised the seriousness of Lawrence's wound and that her first aid kit was left in the patrol car. Also, Doreen Lawrence, in a statement read to the public inquiry into the handling of the case, said that the police had not informed her about the investigation's process. It was also alleged that a police officer had screwed up a piece of paper with the names of Lawrence's suspected killers on it.
