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A NEW investigation has been launched into the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence amid claims police shielded his killers.

Stephen was 18 when he was chased and stabbed to death by a group of five white youths in Eltham, south London in 1993.

It took more than 18 years to bring two of Stephen's murderers - Gary Dobson and David Norris - to justice. They were found guilty by a jury at the Old Bailey in January 2012, and given life sentences.

The pair had initially been arrested along with three other men in 1993, but prosecutors decided there was insufficient evidence to bring charges.
Then in 2007 the case was reviewed following a BBC documentary which raised fresh questions about the suspects. After using new forensic technology police charged Dobson and Norris with the murder in 2011.

His parents, Neville and Baroness Doreen Lawrence, have always claimed that corrupt officers engaged in a conspiracy that helped thwart the hunt for the killers, which the Met officially denies.

The National Crime Agency, Britain’s equivalent of the FBI, has been appointed to lead the hunt and has established a team of investigators. It will focus on the first police investigation carried out in 1993.

The NCA investigation is examining the conduct of the former detective sergeant John Davidson, who was a key officer in the botched 1993 murder investigation.

His mother, Doreen, told the Guardian on Friday that her suspicions about corruption had grown over time. “Those who betray the trust placed in them should face justice, whenever it catches up with them,” she said.

She appealed for information and called on former officers and even criminals to “examine their conscience” and “come forward, so justice can be done”.

“We still believe that corruption played a part in keeping Stephen’s killers free. We have had to fight to get this far, so we can finally have a criminal investigation into the former police officers we suspect. Our suspicions have only grown, despite the decades of official denials.

“We ask those that have any information, be they former police officers or criminals, to examine their conscience. They should come forward, so justice can be done.

“Police corruption has denied us, and others, justice. It is a denial of the trust the police and state have placed in them by citizens. Those who betray the trust placed in them, should face justice, whenever it catches up with them.”

The new inquiry, which comes 22 years after the murder, had been expected for some time, but until now the law enforcement agency assigned to the task had not been made public.

In July 2015 May announced that the criminal investigation into corruption claims in the Lawrence case was “ongoing”.

Her comment was made in a speech about public trust in the police. May reminded her audience she had commissioned Ellison to “review allegations of corruption”. She added: “Following the conclusion of that review, work is ongoing to investigate criminal wrongdoing”







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