Lawrence brother’s anguish on knifing anniversary ‘Evil thugs who killed Stephen know where we live. Now I fear for our safety’
THE brother of murdered Stephen Lawrence still lives in fear of his killers.
Stuart Lawrence revealed he “worries” the thugs who knifed Stephen know where he lives.
Today marks 25 years since the
18-year-old was stabbed in a racist attack by up to six gang members in Eltham, south-east London.
Only two men, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were convicted of his
1993 murder. They were finally jailed in 2012, 19 years later.
Now Stephen’s brother, who has campaigned to get the rest of the gang brought to justice, has told how he is still “fearful” that there could be repercussions.
Speaking to the Daily Star Sunday to mark the anniversary of Stephen’s death, Stuart said: “My mum worries about me lots and I worry about myself.
“Before it was just myself that I had to worry about, you go through a stage of immortality, but the older I get, I worry. I’m fearful.
“These people have now got families of their own, they’ve got extended family. I don’t know what they look like, they know what we look like.
“But I refuse to live in a bubble and not leave my house or do anything. I’m trying to provide for my son and be there for him for as long as I possibly can.”
Stuart said that in the aftermath of Stephen’s death the Lawrence family was subjected to threats. He said: “There were some weird things happening. My dad’s car got vandalised and we didn’t know who knew where we lived, so we moved out of the family home.”
Last month, Stephen’s father Neville, 76, said he had forgiven the killers and planned to spend today in church.
But Stuart said that he can’t bring himself to do the same, because the two men in jail will not confess to the crime.
The teacher, 41, said: “My parents brought me up to have a Christian ethos and, of course, if someone does something wrong and they ask for forgiveness, then as a Christian I’m supposed to forgive them.
“But no-one has asked for forgiveness. No-one has said, ‘I’ve done something wrong’.
“I’m finding it hard understanding who I’m forgiving, for what, at the moment. The two people in prison are saying they didn’t do it. You’ve got to admit you’ve done something wrong to be forgiven.”
Stuart said he feels the same way about the police officers who bungled the probe into his brother’s case.
A BBC documentary last week concluded by following the public inquiry into the case, and highlighted allegations of police corruption.
Stuart added: “It’s one thing saying to someone, ‘We messed up, we never understood, we never knew’.
“Fair enough. But from the documentary, there are still people involved in the case that are saying, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong’.”
Stuart said any officers found to have botched the investigation should lose their pensions as well as standing trial. He added: “If they are found to be guilty, then yes.
“What these officers did, if they were corrupt, is put themselves first.
“You’re supposed to serve and protect, they didn’t do that, they served themselves and they protected themselves and criminals. That is absolutely diabolical.”
The murder probe became one of the longest in the Met’s history, with the killers evading justice for almost 20 years.
The high-profile case and the way it was handled led to the Met being accused of “institutional racism” and incompetence.
Stuart said he tried not to think about the killers who had escaped justice. He added: “I try not to give it too much thought. There are things we can control and things that we can’t control.
“Things that we can’t control, I try not to give it too much thought because I will just send myself crazy.
“Someone said the other day, what they have done, how they live with themselves it is their own problem. For me, that’s enough.
“You have to wake up every day, look in the mirror and have your own demons to live with.
“If that’s the way you choose to live your life it’s only going to eat you up.”