The father and best friend of Stephen Lawrence have called for the criminal investigation into his murder to be reopened after evidence emerged of bungling by the Metropolitan police.
The force on Monday named a significant new suspect in the case, admitting too many mistakes were made in the initial investigation.
Matthew White, who died in 2021 aged 50, was named after a BBC investigation into the killing of the black teenager, who was murdered aged 18 in a racist attack in south-east London in April 1993.
In 2011, White was named publicly for the first time at the trial of David Norris and Gary Dobson, who were given life sentences for the murder in 2012, but only as a witness.
The BBC now says it has re-examined the case and found evidence that White was central to it.
It took 19 years for Norris and Dobson to be convicted of Lawrence’s murder and an inquiry into the police investigation said it had been “marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism and a failure of leadership”.
White broadly matches the description of the first person to attack Lawrence and his friend Duwayne Brooks, who was with him on the night of the attack. Brooks said: “This is a clear example of a surviving victim and key witness to a major crime being ignored and because I was a young black man.
“When it comes to the Met, nothing will ever surprise you.”
Lawrence’s father, Dr Neville Lawrence, said: “They should reopen the case, it should be left open.
“They absolutely did not want to catch the murderers, because there are so many errors, so many things they should have done and did not do.”
“I do not have a shred of confidence in the Met. It was wrong to close the case in 2020.”
In 2020, the Met declared the murder investigation inactive and said there were no further lines of inquiry. At the time, the force said the case would be reviewed every two years and it would be reopened if new leads were to emerge.
White had for years been billed by the Met as a witness, known only as K, who admitted visiting the house of one of the suspects shortly after the attack.
But doubts about him grew, with Clive Driscoll, the detective who successfully prosecuted two of the attackers, believing he was most likely to have been a sixth attacker.
White’s stepfather told police that the youth was involved in the attack in 1993, but it was not until two decades later that any detective followed that up, the BBC reported.
Another witness in 2000 also claimed to have information placing White at the scene of the Lawrence murder, and evidence showed his alibi for where he was on the night of the murder was false.
Lawrence’s mother, Doreen Lawrence, said: “What is infuriating about this latest revelation is that the man who is said to have led the murderous attack on my son has evaded justice because of police failures and yet not a single police officer has faced or will ever face action.
“The failure to properly investigate a main suspect in a murder case is so grave that it should be met by serious sanctions.”
The force told the BBC that White was arrested twice over the murder, in 2000 and 2013, and that files were sent to the Crown Prosecution Service in 2005 and 2014. But on both occasions prosecutors said there was no realistic prospect of conviction.
The Met said the handling of the approach by White’s relative in 1993 was “a significant and regrettable error”.
The force’s deputy assistant commissioner Matt Ward said: “Unfortunately, too many mistakes were made in the initial investigation and the impact of them continues to be seen.”
Prosecutors are considering whether to bring criminal charges against the four original senior officers in the first Met murder investigation, for errors made.
It follows an investigation supervised by the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which said in a statement: “The issues that have been raised were comprehensively explored as part of our investigation into whether corruption played a part in the original investigation.
“A file of evidence was provided to the Crown Prosecution Service to consider whether four former officers may have committed the offence of misconduct in public office in relation to their actions and omissions in the early stages of the investigation into Stephen’s murder in 1993. We await a charging decision.”
The Met said it was undertaking a forensic review in the Lawrence case to see if new techniques could provide fresh opportunities to pursue the remaining killers.
Driscoll has said the Met should be stripped of the case and a new force brought in to pursue the remaining prime suspects – Luke Knight, and Neil and Jamie Acourt, all of whom deny wrongdoing.
The shadow home secretary, Yvette Cooper, said: “Full and independent investigation into everything that went wrong is essential.”
