Late one evening in April 1993 on a busy road in south-east London, Stephen Lawrence, a black teenager who lived in one of the housing estates in Woolwich near by, walked towards a bus stop with his friend. Both of them had spent the evening listening to music at a friend's house. Stephen and his friend, Duwayne Brooks, were what one might call street-wise. In southeast London, racism between whites, blacks and Asian youths is commonplace, and gangs of white youths come regularly into conflict with their black counterparts. At about 10.30 p.m., Stephen and Duwayne were eager to get home to Woolwich, where they knew the streets much better than the unfamiliar Eltham housing estates. What happened next has been the subject of a five-year investigation by the police, and lawyers acting for the Lawrence family. But it also led to accusations that police officers were sloppy, inefficient and, crucially, racist in their dealings with the family and the events of April 22nd, 1993.
Crossing the street, a group of white youths ran towards Stephen and Duwayne shouting "what nigger?" And as they both tried to run away, with Duwayne urging his friend to catch up with him, one of the youths stabbed Stephen and he fell to the ground. One of the stab wounds punctured Stephen's lung and he bled to death on the street. It was at that point, as Stephen lay dying, that the investigation into his murder went horribly wrong. The first police officers at the scene failed to realise the extent of Stephen's injuries. The police are adamant that they did everything they could to track down Stephen's killers, but the Lawrence family have laid the accusation time and again that the police investigation into their son's murder was fatally flawed. A catalogue of complaints began with the Lawrence family claiming that vital hours were lost in the investigation, as the police concentrated their efforts on Stephen's background rather than finding the youths that chased him to his death.
"They used to ask about his friends and whether he was part of a gang . . . The people who killed my son were white," his mother, Ms Doreen Lawrence, said.
Stephen's murder soon became a political issue. Racial tension in the area reached an all-time high. The failure to bring a successful prosecution, even though within days of the murder the police had the names of five youths whom many people believed were guilty, added to concerns that the police had not treated the crime seriously.
Three months after Stephen's murder Neil Acourt, his brother Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight, David Norris and Gary Dobson were arrested, but the Crown Prosecution Service dropped the case against them because of a lack of evidence. In 1995 the Lawrence family took the rare step of bringing a private prosecution against the five. Jamie Acourt and David Norris were discharged at the committal stage for lack of evidence and the case against the other three collapsed when the judge ruled that Duwayne Brooks's eyewitness account was inadmissible.
The collapse of the trial meant that the jury did not hear evidence presented at the committal stage involving secretly-filmed video footage showing three of the youths brandishing knives and making ugly, racist comments. Neil Acourt was shown saying: "I reckon every nigger should be chopped up and left with nothing but fucking stumps." It also emerged that fibres taken from Stephen's hand were consistent with fibres taken from a jacket belonging to Gary Dobson and that a 10-inch knife, suspected of being the murder weapon, was found under his girlfriend's bed.
Last year, after an exhaustive inquest into Stephen's death, the Lawrence family's "fruitless fight" for justice was dealt another blow. During the hearing the five youths refused to answer any questions about the murder. Every question put to them was answered with the words: "I claim privilege" and the inquest turned into a sham.
The Lawrence family are still demanding answers to two questions. Will the people who killed Stephen ever be brought to justice? Will police officers face charges for what they believe was an incompetent investigation?