Detective: Racism claims ‘utter rubbish’
POLICE investigating Stephen’s murder faced a ‘kangaroo court’ at the public inquiry which damned them for institutional racism, a retired senior detective has claimed.
Bill Mellish – who led the murder hunt for a year – said it was ‘utter rubbish’ to brand the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) guilty of institutional racism.
His comments, in a documentary series being screened this week, will reignite the row over racism in the Met, days after a Lawrence family lawyer accused it of betraying its promise to tackle the issue.
The London force faced damning criticism for its failure to investigate the 1993 murder properly after the public inquiry led by Sir William Macpherson heard that its officers had initially assumed Stephen’s fatal stabbing was linked to drugs.
The 18-year- old A-level student was attacked by a gang of white youths who shouted vile racist abuse, but police failed to act on a series of tip-offs about the gang’s identity and wasted vital opportunities to seize key evidence.
The Macpherson Inquiry into the botched murder investigation has long been seen as a watershed moment for race relations in Britain, and the Met pledged to introduce sweeping changes after its findings were published in 1999.
But Mr Mellish, a former detective superintendent, told the documentary: ‘I think one officer on the night [of the murder] formed, wrongly, the opinion that it was a drugrelated murder. And I think on that basis and perhaps one or two other examples [they] branded the whole of the Metropolitan Police as racist, which is utter rubbish.’
Speaking about the findings of the public inquiry, he said: ‘It confirmed my suspicion that it was a kangaroo court. I know they’re wrong. I have been in the Met for 32 years.’
Mr Mellish, who took over the investigation in 1994, was praised in the Macpherson report for his work and received personal thanks from the Lawrence family during the inquiry.
Imran Khan, lawyer for Stephen’s mother Doreen, now Baroness Lawrence, reacted angrily after he was shown the three-part documentary.
‘We had a number of police officers who I had assumed had moved forward with us,’ he said. ‘Having viewed all three programmes I feel betrayed by those officers.’
Asked if he believed they were racist, he replied: ‘Without a shadow of a doubt. It’s now hidden far better than it was but it exists and it’s thriving.’
A spokesman for the Met said it had not viewed the documentary.
She added: ‘The public inquiry made a series of recommendations which led to farreaching changes in the Met’s approach to murder investigation, race crime and staff diversity. The Met has brought two people to justice for this appalling crime.
‘The Commissioner has been instrumental in personally improving the response to racist crime in London. She has very clearly stated that she will not tolerate racism within the MPS.’