Baroness Doreen Lawrence has expressed disbelief at claims undercover police officers were tasked with finding information to "smear" and "destroy" her family following her son's racist murder. She told a public inquiry on Thursday that officers put more effort into discrediting the family than into finding Stephen's killers.
Stephen Lawrence was murdered by a gang of five or six racist attackers in south-east London in April 1993. Only two have ever been brought to justice. The initial investigation was marred by incompetence and corruption allegations.
In 2014, whistleblower and former undercover officer Peter Francis claimed he had been tasked with gathering information to smear the Lawrence family. The Metropolitan Police denies this.
Lady Lawrence testified: «If they were able to put that amount of attention and resources into discrediting us as a family, if they'd put that amount of attention into seeking and to finding Stephen's murderers, we would not be sitting here today.»
She added: «All the time during Stephen's investigation all I wanted was to be treated the same. I wasn't looking for special treatment. It is your job to investigate Stephen's murder and that's all I wanted.»
Allegations of Racial Assumptions
Lady Lawrence told the hearing that police assumed her family were criminals because they were black.
«Police officers were saying that they'd never met anybody like us before,» she said. «And the assumption is that my son must have been a criminal, and that was what they kept bringing up. Because we were supposed to be so different.»
She described this as disturbing: «Automatically you are put into a category that as blacks you are criminals, and there is nothing about me, my background, anything could ever give you that impression.»
Lady Lawrence stated bluntly: «If Stephen had been white they would have looked at it completely differently.»
Police Ignored Information
The family and members of the public passed on names of suspects to police, but no effective action was taken.
«The police did not want to know. People in authority did not want to know. Just another black boy has been murdered, so what? We were ignored. Constantly ignored,» Lady Lawrence testified.
She added: «We had done everything that we could do to support the police, but in the end they did nothing to support us.»
Undercover Policing Inquiry
The Undercover Policing Inquiry (UCPI) began in 2015, partly triggered by outrage over claims the Lawrence family had been spied on.
Whistleblower Francis claimed his bosses were racist, with one officer allegedly referring to black justice campaigners as monkeys, which the officer denies. Francis stated: «The Special Branch attitude towards the Lawrence family was 100% racist. They were viewed as unable to think for themselves or come up with and run their campaign themselves.»
The inquiry is examining the activities of undercover officers from the Metropolitan Police's Special Demonstration Squad and National Public Order Intelligence Unit. Officers allegedly deceived women into sexual relationships, used identities of deceased children without permission, and spied on family justice campaigns.
The current stage examines the period 1993 to 2007 and began in October.
Note: This article was created with Artificial Intelligence (AI).
