Last night Stephen Lawrence's father, Mr Neville Lawrence, made plain his contempt for the five's written statement expressing sympathy for his family.
Mr Lawrence, interviewed on Channel 4 News, pointed out that the youths had not taken the opportunity to declare their innocence during their appearances before the inquiry.
"They had. . . the opportunity to tell everybody in this country that they are innocent and they didn't take it," said Mr Lawrence.
Mr Lawrence said he had been disappointed by the events of the past two days, in that little information had been extracted from the five.
But at least the proceedings had demonstrated visibly that the five had no respect for people from ethnic minorities.
"We saw the way they walked out of court yesterday. It's really disgusting to know that human beings can think of other people in the way they have done, and not be ashamed of what they have said or done."
Mr Imran Khan, the Lawrence family's lawyer, suggested that the Lawrence family could still pursue a civil action over their son's death.