The racist attack and murder of Stephen Lawrence has finally ended, finding both David Norris and Gary Dobson guilty of his murder. It’s taken 18 long bloody years to finally bring justice to the Lawrence family.
A Chronology of events can be found here
Both Gary Dobson and David Norris were found quality today afternoon, bringing to an end (I hope) one of UK’s most unsolved murder case stretching over 18 years. Not sure how many people are familiar with this case, especially those outside of the UK, but, I remember this case being a small kid.
The details of this conviction can be read here, here and here.
In my lifetime, pre-9/11 this was a one of those cases which brought to life many issues facing ethnic minorities in the UK (or even Europe for that matter). Stephen Lawrence was a British Teenager, murdered back in 1993 in a racially motivated attack.
The pair were part of a wider gang, in this attack they were a group of 5 people. They all escaped justice to a series of terrible police failings and where witnesses were intimidated and too scared to come forward.
In 1994, a secret recording of the pair made during a covert operation clearly showed them talking in racist and violent language. This was, for everyone, now considered for sure a racist murder. Failures in the original police investigation led to the McPherson report, which concluded that, the Metropolitan Police was “institutionally racist” and made 70 recommendations for ousting racism from society.
The other three suspects were named as Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight. In 1997 daily mail named all five in an infamous front page as Lawrence’s murders. To date, as far as I can recall, none have sued the paper.
Key Points for me:
The fact it taken 18 long years for this case to be concluded with convictions – shows the level of corruption and racism that has been inherent in the Metropolitan Police, and shows, how deep the problem expands.
Till date, from my recollection nobody has been made accountable for the appalling way the investigation into Stephen’s Murder was handled and executed by the very same Police, more so for the ill treatment of his parents and those who wanted justice and decided to made a stance physically.
Finally:
I am pleased to see the long winded battle for his parents and for those who were attached directly to this case (seeking justice) finally come to an end. They spent 18 years fighting the very same institution which should have protected them. At least now, the parents can really mourn the death of Stephen Lawrence.
That said, it does however raise the question of how and why the original police investigation failed, was corrupt and which showed deep levels of “institutional racism”? Although, Stephen Lawrence case is now over, the case of police failings in this case is still wide open.
its a long long time it has taken but at least it has .. it was a bad thing to happen ..
sad sad situation
Yes, it was a really long time. The question here is why it took so long despite all the evidence and witness statements available at the time.
There was a very interesting debate on the radio this morning around this subject and the general feeling was that this case is only partially concluded, there are still other members of the group out there who need to be brought to justice. There is also the question that they should have got a longer sentence. Yes they were teenagers when they committed the crime, however they are now men and should serve a life sentence, min. 25yrs for what they did.
It’s also no surprise that the Met Police are rife with racism, there have been numerous programmes shown on TV showing secret filming of police officers making racist comments or making some kind of offensive comments towards ethnic minority groups.
Yes along with those who committed the crime, those involved in the investigation at the time should also be brought to trial and investigated themselves, was there corruption involved, a cover-up? Who knows…
Don’t get me wrong, the Police do a fantastic job, but with any large organisation, there are mysterious “going-ons” at a much higher level, or better termed as “behind the scenes”.
Yes, pretty spot on. There are still those in the Met Police who simply refuse to accept racism is still rife in the institution, despite all the secret investigations done to unravel how big the problem is.
Very sad situation.
On a more positive note, I hope that 2012 is off to a great start for you! Love your blog. Love your comments! Glad to have “met” you.
Hi Ameena, thank you for your kind words. It my pleasure in “knowing” you too. Thanks for stopping by.
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Justice finally prevailed… It took its time, a few decades but it has happened.
I hope the family find some peace now.
Justice has only brought 2 individuals out of 5 to account – the family will no doubt seek ways to bring all to account for their racist murder.
There are a number of reasons for the delay in obtaining these convictions.
The original investigation was incompetent.
The private prosecution, against legal advice, was doomed and led to the acquittal of all five suspects. This meant that they could never be tried again on the same facts.
It took a change in the law in 2008 to enable these people to be prosecuted a second time for Steven Lawrence’s murder.
Forensic science, in particular DNA analysis, has moved on substantially in the past 18 years. The scientific evidence available to the court in this recent trial was impossible when Steven Lawrence was murdered.