New suspect named in Stephen Lawrence case 30 years on

A new suspect has been named in the murder of Stephen Lawrence, sparking a furious response from his mother and renewed calls for officers involved in the case to be sacked for repeatedly bungling the investigation.

Three decades on from the UK’s most notorious racially motivated killing, the Metropolitan Police has named Matthew White, who died in 2021 aged 50, as a suspect.

White first came to the attention of the police in 1993 as a witness to the attack. He was arrested and interviewed in 2000 and again in 2013 “but the Met reportedly seriously mishandled inquiries related to him”, reported The Independent.

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Five men have previously been suspected of carrying out the fatal stabbing in southeast London in April 1993. Two of them, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were handed life sentences in 2012 after being found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey.

However, Duwayne Brooks, who was with Lawrence on the night of his murder, always maintained there was a sixth attacker. Now, thanks to an investigation by the BBC, he is believed to have been identified.

Based on witness testimony, police documents and new evidence “that shows how officers mishandled investigations relating to White”, the BBC’s Daniel De Simone said that “at key moments the police failed to pull together all these pieces of evidence” on the man known publicly as Witness K.

The information regarding White “raises fresh concerns over the Met’s decision to cease its investigation into the murder three years ago”, said the Evening Standard.

Despite a new apology by the Met for its “failings”, the naming of White has prompted a furious reaction from the mother of Stephen Lawrence. Baroness Doreen Lawrence demanded “serious sanctions” against the officers who failed to investigate him.

“Only when police officers lose their jobs can the public have confidence that failure and incompetence will not be tolerated and that change will happen,” she said.