Four former detectives who oversaw the initial investigation into Stephen Lawrence’s murder will not be charged, a review has concluded.
Mr. Lourençoaged 18, was murdered by a gang of racist attackers in south-east London as he ran to catch a bus with his friend Duwayne Brooks in April 1993.
Only two of his killers – Gary Dobson and David Norris – were brought to justice.
Last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) considered whether or not to charge four former Metropolitan Police detectives with misconduct due to the failures of the investigation.
In July last year, he announced that the three former superintendents and one former detective inspector would not face prosecution.
This decision was challenged by Mr Lawrence’s parents under the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) regime.
But a new review, carried out by a prosecutor independent of the original review, has now confirmed that decision.
It represents a final decision by the CPS.
Gary Dobson (L) and David Norris were convicted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence. Photo: CPS
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS Special Crimes Division, said: “Following our decision in July 2023 not to lay criminal charges against four officers involved in the first six weeks of the investigation into Stephen’s murder, we have received a request to review the decision under the Victims’ Right to Review (VRR) scheme.
“An extensive review of this decision, which involved an independent prosecutor re-examining a substantial amount of evidence and case materials, has now been completed.
“The crimes of misconduct in public office were reconsidered, but the review upheld the original decision not to bring any criminal charges against the four officers in the case.
“We understand that this news will be extremely disappointing for Stephen’s family and friends, and CPS has offered to meet with immediate family to explain our reasoning in more detail.”
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‘Fundamental errors’
The Met chief has previously said the investigation into the 1993 murder may never progress because the Original inquiry did “such a bad job”.
Sir Mark Rowley admitted mistakes by detectives caused irreparable harm.
On the 30th anniversary of the murder in April last year, Sir Mark said the force had not “dig deep enough” to tackle racism.
See more information:
Met Police apologize to Stephen Lawrence’s mother
Stephen Lawrence’s father says he will ‘never forgive the police’
In 1999, the damning Macpherson Report into the murder and its aftermath concluded that the Met was institutionally racist.
In its conclusion, the report states that “there is no doubt that there were fundamental errors” in the investigation.
“The investigation was marked by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and leadership failure by senior officers,” he added.
“A flawed MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] the review failed to expose these inadequacies.
“The second investigation failed to salvage the flaws of the first investigation.”
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