The United Kingdom’s Metropolitan Police, on Monday (June 26) named a major suspect in the decades-old investigation of the Stephen Lawrence murder and admitted making too many mistakes in the initial investigation. The name of the new suspect emerged following a BBC investigation which found that the Met police “seriously mishandled key inquiries” related to Matthew White, which the report said was central to the case.
What is the case about?
Stephen Lawrence, a Black teenager was murdered in a reportedly racially motivated attack in south-east London in April 1993. It is said to be the UK’s most notorious racist killing while the failure of the first police investigation also prompted a public inquiry into the Met police which found that they were institutionally racist.
This comes as the inquiry in 1999, the Met Police were branded institutionally racist for their bungling of a high-profile racially motivated killing of a black teenager. An inquiry into the police investigation found that it had been “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership”.
Lawrence, who was 18 at the time is said to have been stabbed to death by a “gang of young white men,” as per BBC. The UK-based media outlet also reported that the five prime suspects became widely known after the murder while the public inquiry said there were “five or six” attackers.
The newly named suspect, Matthew White, was publicly named in 2011 for the first time at the trial of David Norris and Gary Dobson. The duo had been given life sentences for Lawrence’s murder in 2012. While the other three suspects – Luke Knight and brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt were acquitted.
In 2020, Commissioner Cressida Dick declared the case “inactive” and said that all identified lines of inquiry had been followed while assuring Lawrence’s family that the police would investigate any new information.
Who is Matthew White and what did the investigation find?
Matthew White is now the sixth suspect named following the BBC investigation. White, who died in August 2021, at the age of 50, first appeared on the police radar after he was presented as a witness related to the case for Norris and Dobson in 2011.
The new investigation by BBC finds that White was central to the case. Initially, he was known as Witness K and was granted an alias despite never really cooperating with police said the UK-based media outlet.
Additionally, a relative of White had also tried to speak to the Met after the murder but the wrong information was entered into the police database and the lead was not followed, said the media report. BBC’s investigation also found that when the relative was eventually traced by the police 20 years later and the relative said that White had admitted to being present during the attack.
This was in addition to another witness back in 2000 who reportedly said that White had admitted to being a part of the attack. The media report citing evidence also said that White’s alibi was false and that police surveillance photos of White showed a resemblance to witness accounts of an unidentified fair-haired attacker.
‘Too many mistakes’: Met police about their investigation
In a statement to BBC, Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward, said, “Unfortunately, too many mistakes were made in the initial investigation.” This comes after the UK police took to the almost unprecedented step of naming White as a suspect following the media report. It added, “The impact of them continues to be seen.”
“On the 30th anniversary of Stephen’s murder, Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley apologised for our failings and I repeat that apology today,” the statement added.
Lawrence’s parents fume at Met police over recent findings
In a statement to the UK-based media outlet, Stephen’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence called for “serious sanctions” against police officers who were investigating White after the BBC released its findings. She added, “Only when police officers lose their jobs can the public have confidence that failure and incompetence will not be tolerated and that change will happen.”
Similarly, his father, Dr Neville Lawrence told the BBC, “They must be able to find a decent police force who could investigate.”
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