Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London. He was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993. The case became a cause célèbre: its fallout included cultural changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder in 2012.
About Murder of Stephen Lawrence in brief
Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London. He was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993. The case became a cause célèbre: its fallout included cultural changes of attitudes on racism and the police, and to the law and police practice. It also led to the partial revocation of the rule against double jeopardy. Two of the perpetrators were convicted of murder in 2012. A 1998 public inquiry, headed by Sir William Macpherson, concluded that the Metropolitan Police Service was institutionally racist. It recommended that the double jeopardy rule should be repealed in murder cases to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence. In 2010, the case was said to be \”one of the highest-profile unsolved racially motivated murders\”. On 18 May 2011, after a further review, it was announced that two of the original suspects, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were to stand trial for the murder in the light of new evidence. The pair were found guilty of Lawrence’s murder and were sentenced to detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure, equivalent to a life sentence for an adult, with minimum terms of 15 years 2 months and 14 years 3 months respectively. An inquiry into whether members of the police force shielded the alleged killers was set up in October 2015. Home Secretary Theresa May ordered an independent inquiry by a prominent QC into undercover policing and corruption, which was described as ‘devastating’ when published in 2014.
In 2013, a former undercover police officer stated in an interview that he had been pressured to find ways to discredit the victim’s family, in order to mute and deter public campaigning for better police responses to the case. Such claims had surfaced before, and been investigated in 2006, but were reignited in 2013. Such an appeal had only become possible following the 2005 change in the law, although Dobson was not the first person to be retried for murder as a result. During his teenage years, Lawrence excelled in running, competing for the local Cambridge Harriers athletics club, and appeared as an extra in Denzel Washington’s film For Queen and Country. At the time of his death he was studying technology and physics at the Blackheath Bluecoat School and English language and literature at Woolwich College, and was hoping to become an architect. Lawrence had spent the day of Thursday April 22 1993 at Blackheaths Bluecoat school, then travelled by bus to Grove Park School. After realising that the bus would get them late, they decided to change for either 161 or 122 on Well Hall Road. Lawrence and Brooks arrived at the bus stop at 10: 25 pm. Brooks was still on the bus and saw if he could see a bus coming and then went back towards the group. Lawrence walked along Well Hall road to the junction of Dickson Road and Rochester Way with Westhorne Avenue and saw a group of group of people.
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