Smear claims against family of murdered black teenager

The case became a cause celebre and one of the highest profile racial killings in UK history.

Its fallout included profound cultural changes to attitudes on racism and the police, as well as changes to the law and to police practice.

After an initial investigation, five suspects were arrested but none was convicted.

It was suggested during the course of that investigation that the murder was racially motivated, that Stephen was killed because he was black and that the handling of the case by the police and the Crown Prosecution Service was affected by issues of race.

A public inquiry in 1998, headed by Sir William Macpherson, examined the original investigation and concluded that the Metropolitan Police Service was “institutionally racist”. The publication in 1999 of the inquiry’s report was one of the most important defining moments in the modern history of UK criminal justice.

In 2011, following a cold case review, it was announced that Gary Dobson and David Norris, two of the original suspects, were to stand trial for the murder in the light of “new and substantial evidence” becoming available. At the same time, it was disclosed that a previous acquittal of Dobson had been quashed by the Court of Appeal, allowing a retrial to take place.

In 2012, both Dobson and Norris were found guilty of the murder and were sentenced to detention at Her Majesty’s pleasure, with minimum terms of 15 years two months and 14 years three months respectively for what the judge described as a “terrible and evil crime”.

Now, you would have thought that with the sentencing of the two guilty men, the Stephen Lawrence affair would have come to its conclusion. But it seems that the story is destined never to go away completely.

In the latest development, Peter Francis, a former undercover officer, has alleged that the Metropolitan police ordered some of his colleagues to spy on the Lawrence family and other campaigners for justice in an attempt to find “dirt” on them after Stephen’s murder.

Mr Francis claimed that he was part of a unit given the task of attempting to smear those close to the teenager. He also said that senior officers chose to withhold his role from Sir William’s inquiry.

He further claimed that he posed as an anti-racist activist in the mid 1990s and had been under “huge and constant pressure” from senior officers to hunt for disinformation that might be used to discredit those calling for a better investigation into the teenager’s murder.

Prime Minister David Cameron described the allegations as horrific and promised to “get the full truth out”. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, the current Metropolitan Police Commissioner, said he was personally shocked. He said he has referred the matter to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Home Secretary Theresa May told the House of Commons that the allegations would be investigated as part of an inquiry into the undercover work of the Special Demonstration Squad in London in the 1980s and 1990s. She promised to be ruthless in purging those responsible for wrongdoing.

Stephen’s father, Neville, said it was an unthinkable betrayal that Scotland Yard would mount a dirty tricks operation following his son’s racist murder. He added that he always suspected his family was under greater investigation than the gang that killed Stephen.

His ex-wife, Doreen, said, “It just makes me really, really angry that all this has been going on and all the while they were trying to undermine us as a family. I am quite shocked that back in that time, during our time of grief, there was somebody sitting somewhere calculating, infiltrating into our family.”

Personally, I am among those who thought that, with the conviction of Dobson and Norris for Stephen’s murder almost 20 years after his death, the Lawrence family would finally be able to let the matter rest. But no such luck because who knows what else this new investigation ordered by the Home Secretary will bring to light.