UK: Lawrence family accepts £320,000 from Met
01 January 2001
The family of Stephen Lawrence, the black youth stabbed to death by a racist gang in Eltham in 1993, have accepted a payment of £320,000 in compensation from the Metropolitan police for their failings during and after the investigation into their son's murder. The agreement was reached last December and follows talks between the Lawrence's lawyers and the police. It ends a seven year battle, during which the family were forced to instigate a civil action. The Macpherson inquiry into Stephen's murder in 1999, found that incompetence and racism had undermined the police investigation. While the Met has ended the protracted negotiations by agreeing to the payment they refused to admit any negligence in their handling of the case, despite the Commissioner giving a personal apology to the family during the inquiry (see Statewatch vol 3 no 3, vol 5 no 5, vol 7 no 1, vol 8 nos 3/4 & 5).
The Observer newspaper has reported allegations that one of the key police officers in the police inquiry "was involved in drug dealing and theft". The allegations concern former Detective Sergeant John Davidson, who served in the South East Regional Crime Squad in the early 1990s. Davidson was named by a police informer, Neil Putnam, who claims that he was involved in the theft of goods from a highjacked lorry in 1994 and a cocaine deal in 1995. The Macpherson inquiry was critical of Davidson and concluded that his attitude "is to be deplored". However the inquiry drew a line in the ground on the issue of racism and largely ignored serious evidence of endemic corruption. Even more astonishing is the revelation that detectives investigating the officers' corruption informed the inquiry about their concerns. The Lawrence family representatives at the inquiry were never informed of their concerns. The disclosure has prompted lawyers representing the Lawrences to call for a new inquiry.
The main witness to Stephen's murder, his friend Duwayne Brooks, who was with him on the day he died, has been told he cannot claim negligence by the Metropolitan police at a London county court. Duwayne intended to sue the Met for negligence and misfeasance in public office and false imprisonment after the Macpherson inquiry report condemned the police for stereotyping him and failing to treat him as a victim. His claims were thrown out by Judge Neil Butter who decided they were unsubstantiated because the police did not realise that Duwayne was in a distressed state, despite his having watched his friend die.
Scotland Yard also faces the prospect of a £1m damages payment to a couple from north London after a long campaign by supporters and a highly critical internal police investigation. Delroy Lindo and his wife Sonia, have brought a case against the Metropolitan police alleging "systematic harassment", after being stopped or arrested by officers 37 times in the past eight years. In the same period Delroy was charged with 18 offences, including assaulting a police officer, but never convicted; on one - typical - occasion he was arrested and held in custody for "sucking his teeth in an aggressive manner". The Lindo's claim that the campaign of police harassment was a result of their support for Winston Silcott who was falsely convicted, (he was cleared on appeal receiving £50,000 damages) of the murder of PC Blakelock during the 1985 Broadwater Farm uprising in north London.
The Metropolitan police will publish the internal report which says that the couple suffered from "negative stereotyping" and "punitive" use of the courts to punish them. However, the 47 police officers named in the report are considering legal action against Scotland Yard seeking damages for defamation. Several newspaper reports have suggested that the legal course is being taken with the tacit approval of senior officers. Bob Elder, chairman of the Tottenham branch of the Metropolitan Police Federation said:
The officers are getting legal advice on the issue. It's a question of their