STEPHEN’S MOTHER: IT’S TIME TO MOVE ON

25 years after her son’s murder, Doreen Lawrence’s heartfelt plea

STEPHEN Lawrence’s mother has suggested that the police inquiry into her son’s murder should be closed after 25 years.

Doreen Lawrence said Scotland Yard should shelve the investigation if, as she suspects, there are no more significant leads. In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, she urged officers to be ‘honest’ about the probe – saying she was conscious it was funded by taxpayers. Baroness Lawrence’s comments came as she prepares to mark the 25th anniversary of Britain’s most notorious race murder.

Since her 18-year-old son was stabbed to death by white thugs at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, on April 22, 1993, she has campaigned tirelessly. Two of the student’s killers were jailed

in 2012, but three others have so far dodged justice – despite Scotland Yard spending more than £50million on the investigation.

Lady Lawrence made it clear police cannot keep the inquiry open indefinitely.

She was recently briefed by detectives and said last night she did not think the Met had any more lines of inquiry.

She said: ‘They say they’re carrying on the investigation, but carrying on doing what? If they’ve come to the end they should be honest, say they’ve come to an end and stop.

‘I think they’re carrying on pretending everything’s fine because they don’t want to hear what I’ll say if it is stopped.

‘As Stephen’s mother I think all of them should be behind bars spending time for murder, but it’s six years now since those two convictions and I’m very conscious that the money for the investigation is coming out of the public purse. Had [police] done their job properly in the first place we wouldn’t be here.

‘But they were incompetent and racist. They are the reason we are here today.’

Lady Lawrence, 65, told the Mail she needed to ‘draw a line’. ‘I can’t keep doing this,’ she said. ‘I just want time for me – time to reflect.

‘I’ve been on the go for 25 years. I haven’t stopped. I don’t think I’ve even completely grieved for Stephen.

‘If you spend 25 years fighting for justice, where do you find the time?’ Gary Dobson, now 42, and David Norris, 41, were convicted and jailed for life in 2012 when DNA and fibre evidence linked them to the murder.

The judge urged police to keep investigating to bring the other killers to justice.

The third suspect, 42-yearold Neil Acourt, is behind bars for masterminding a £4million cannabis smuggling ring, while his brother Jamie, 41, is wanted for his links to drugs crime and on the run in Spain.

The only gang member still on British streets is Luke Knight, who is now 41.

When prosecutors refused to bring charges against Stephen’s killers, his parents Neville and Doreen launched a private prosecution – the first in legal history – against Dobson, Knight and Neil Acourt.

But the trial collapsed when key evidence was ruled inadmissible. In February 1997, the day after an inquest delivered a verdict of unlawful killing ‘in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five youths’, this newspaper went to the extraordinary length of naming the five men on its front page with the headline: ‘Murderers.’

‘If we are wrong, let them sue us,’ we said, throwing down a legal gauntlet to the men who had refused to answer questions about Stephen’s murder for fear of incriminating themselves.

It placed enormous pressure on the Met to deliver justice – and triggered a public inquiry into Stephen’s death which then led to a change to the double-jeopardy rule.

‘What the Daily Mail did was fantastic for exposing those individuals for who they are,’ Lady Lawrence said.

‘ That was a poignant moment for me. Before that our faces were out there but Stephen’s killers could just get on with their lives and nobody knew who they were. Suddenly there was nowhere for them to hide.

‘Without that front page I felt we were being criticised the whole time. How dare you take out a private prosecution? How dare you criticise the police? Having that front page was like opening the whole country’s eyes: This is what the family has been going through and these are the ones you should point your anger at – not us.’

Later this month, a threepart BBC1 documentary will examine Stephen’s murder.