Straw ‘was source’ of Mail’s Lawrence story

JACK STRAW, the former home secretary, was the source of a newspaper story concerning the murder of Stephen Lawrence that the late teenager’s mother has alleged was obtained illegally, court documents suggest.

Baroness Lawrence is among seven high-profile figures, including the Duke of Sussex and Sir Elton John, who have brought High Court claims against Associated Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday.

In the publisher’s written defence, made public this week, Andrew Caldecott KC and Adrian Beltrami KC strongly denied the claims, warning that the case was “without foundation” and “an affront to the hard-working professional journalists whose reputations and integrity, as well as that of

Associated

Stephen Lawrence, 18, an aspiring architect, was stabbed to death by a group of up to six white youths as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, southeast London, in 1993.

The Daily Mail was at the forefront of a campaign to bring his killers to justice.

But among the stories Lady Lawrence has claimed were obtained unlawfully was a front page story revealing that Mr Straw, the then home secretary, planned to launch a new public inquiry into her son’s death, which was published by the Daily Mail five months later, in July 1997. The publisher denied that the story was obtained via the misuse of private information or that the information was legally privileged.

In fact, it said the main detail had been passed to the newspaper’s editor directly by Mr Straw.

“The information that the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, was to set up a major public inquiry into Stephen Lawrence’s murder was provided to Mr Dacre, editor of the Daily Mail, by Mr Straw who told him that his paper’s campaign had been a significant factor in this decision,” court documents state.

Associated noted that no complaint was made by the claimant or her family at the time of original publication, which would have been expected had the information been “closely guarded”.

No findings have been yet made in the High Court case and the legal claims are in the preliminary stages.

‘The information that Mr Straw was to set up a public inquiry into Mr Lawrence’s murder was by Mr Straw’