HOME Secretary, Theresa May has ordered a new ‘QC-led review’ into allegations that police corruption hampered the original failed investigation, nineteen years after the murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence.
The announcement came in response to calls from the Lawrence family for the allegations of malpractice to be assessed independently.
A Home Office spokesman said: ‘The Home Secretary has asked for a QC-led review of the work the Metropolitan Police have undertaken into investigating claims of corruption in the original Stephen Lawrence investigation.’
Stephen’s mother Doreen Lawrence and her legal team are in talks with the Home Office to clarify the terms of reference.
She said: ‘While I asked for a public inquiry into these allegations, my discussions with the Home Secretary have reassured me that the independent review she has ordered will seek to deal with my concerns.
‘This is because firstly, it will be conducted by someone independent of both the police and the IPCC, organisations in which I have little faith and confidence, and secondly, the person conducting the review, Mark Ellison QC, is someone who has already shown his commitment in getting justice for me and my family.’
May is also understood to want to avoid any concerns of a cover-up, and believes that can be achieved by appointing a leading barrister to establish the truth.
The Home Secretary’s move came despite Metropolitan Police claims that a review of thousands of documents dating back to the 1980s had failed to uncover any new evidence of corruption or collusion blighting the investigations into Stephen’s death in 1993.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission had also said that a separate review of its 2006 inquiry into corruption allegations had failed to find new evidence.
The corruption claims centre on allegations about former Met Police detective sergeant John Davidson, who played a leading role in the original hunt for Stephen’s racist killers.
A police supergrass alleged that Davidson admitted officers had a corrupt relationship with Clifford Norris, the father of David Norris who with Gary Dobson was jailed for life in January over the killing.
