Stephen Lawrence murder: External police force will review Met's assessment of any new evidence

City Hall said Sadiq Khan was keen to see a police force which “commands the Lawrence family’s confidence” involved in the case
Stephen Lawrence
PA
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

An external police force will review the Met’s assessment of any fresh evidence in the Stephen Lawrence murder case, it was announced on Monday.

City Hall said Sadiq Khan was keen to see a police force which “commands the Lawrence family’s confidence” involved in the case.

It comes after Stephen’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, has questioned why the investigation into his killing was not reopened after a new suspect came to light.

Following an hour-long meeting between the Mayor and Sir Mark Rowley at City Hall on Monday, a spokesman for Mr Khan said they both agreed that another force will review any new evidence in the case.

Mr Khan’s spokesman added: “It was a good, frank and constructive discussion with the Commissioner. He has Sadiq’s full confidence in policing London.

“London is policed by consent and they both agreed getting community relations right is fundamental to that.”

Scotland Yard was accused of a “shocking level of failure” after Sir Mark was forced to apologise for breaking a promise to update Baroness Lawrence on an aborted probe into a sixth suspect.

The teenager was attacked by a group of young white men as he ran to catch a bus with his friend Duwayne Brooks.

The broadcaster says Baroness Lawrence was promised an explanation after it last year named Matthew White as a sixth suspect in the case.

White, who died in 2021 aged 50, was in 2020 convicted of an assault on a black shop worker near where Mr Lawrence was murdered.

The victim told the BBC that White had said: “Remember you’re in Eltham. Remember where you are, remember what happened to Stephen Lawrence. I can call my boys, they can come down and they can deal with you.”

Only two men, David Norris and Gary Dobson, have been convicted over the teen’s murder.

But police investigations have been marred by corruption, racist attitudes and multiple failures.

The BBC reported that independent witnesses had said that White was present at the murder and that he also matched the description of the main attacker given by Mr Brooks. But that evidence of his involvement was not pursued adequately.

Mr Khan paid tribute to Baroness Lawrence’s fight for justice on the 31st anniversary of the killing.

He said:  “It is vital that any new lines of inquiry are properly investigated.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in