Dr Neville Lawrence, father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, has said the Metropolitan Police’s failure to change over the past 30 years disrespects his family’s sacrifice and loss. Speaking to the Guardian, Dr Lawrence said he does not believe Britain’s biggest force will reform, even after a blistering report by Louise Casey this week found the Met guilty of institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia.
The Lawrence family fought for justice after Stephen, 18, was murdered by a racist gang at a bus stop in south-east London in 1993. Their campaign led to a public inquiry in 1999 that first labelled the Met as institutionally racist. Dr Lawrence said: “We went through hell and back years ago. All the things coming out now were said so many years ago. They have disrespected our sacrifice and the loss of Stephen.”
Casey’s report said discrimination was “baked” into the force. Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley accepted her findings but refused to use the term institutional racism, calling it ambiguous and political. Dr Lawrence dismissed Rowley’s vow to change, saying: “They are not going to do anything about it. They are the law; they think they are above everyone else.” He compared the Met to a patient ignoring a doctor’s medicine: “These people are ill. They have to take their medicine.”
Dr Lawrence recalled how police initially failed to act after Stephen’s murder, despite being given suspects’ names. Arrests only came after Nelson Mandela publicly backed the family during a visit to Britain. He said: “When my son was murdered, they squandered all the good luck they had… They had all the evidence and they did not arrest the suspects until Nelson Mandela spoke.”
Three decades on, Dr Lawrence said he and his family are still stopped by police, and friends are too scared to call the force. Two men were convicted of Stephen’s murder in 2012, but the detective who cracked the case, Clive Driscoll, was later let go by the Met. Dr Lawrence added: “There are some good officers in there, but so many bad officers, it makes it impossible.”
