The 3rd of January was a significant day for many who have always followed the brutal and cowardly murder of Stephen Lawrence. This was the day where 2 out of the 5 original suspects, Gary Dobson and David Norris, where sentenced to life imprisonment. However despite the air of relief that after 18 years some justice has finally been done for this young and promising man there are still the other 3 suspects that have evaded the law.
This case is not just about a racist murder but now represents how the Met had deep rooted steropical beliefs about black people and if they had acted accordingly and lived up to their job description these 5 men would have been caught alot sooner.
It all started in 1993, on the 22nd of April. Stephen Lawrence and Duwayne Brooks were waiting for a bus in Eltham, South London when a group of 5 white youths started towards them. Duwayne was lucky enough to have not been caught by them but unfortunately as soon as they caught up to Stephen they beat and stabbed him. As soon as they ran off, Stephen's adrenaline forced him to get up and start running with Duwayne, concealing the full effects of the attack. It wasn't long before he collapsed bleeding on the ground. Duwayne called the ambulance from a nearby phone box whilst passer-bys sat with Stephen. Due to the nature of the call and the awareness that both young men were black a police car showed up instead, this led to Stephen dying in the street and Duwayne being the main suspect. They didnt believe his story that this was a racist attack and refused to check out the area despite Duwayne telling them the direction that the murderers ran off in. Due to the colour of their skin the police made a rash and career threatening decision that this had been a fight between the 2 young black men. This case would go on to highlight the amount of murder cases where deep rooted racism had played a part in justice not being served. This was called the William Macpherson's inquiry in 1999.
The Inquiry was brought about as a response to the anger towards the police's negligant and lazy effort at securing a prosecution against the perpetrators. By this point it was well known that days after the murder many people contacted the police in different manners to name the group of racist thugs that have not only killed Stephen but have set upon many other people from different races. These names were Gary Dobson, David Norris, Luke Knight and Jamie and Neil Acourt (brothers) and still the police spent more time covering up their corruption and dealing with criticism from all angles.
Other racially motivated crimes where justice has not been served accordingly were brought up in the inquiry as evidence of racism within the police.
Rolan Adams - Killed in 1991 by a gang of white youths who called themselves the "Nazi turn outs." This happened in South London and Rolan was just 15 years old. Some of the same police that were involved in this case were also on the Stephen Lawrence case and similarities to how the murders were treat was highlighted in the inquiry.
Quddus Ali - He was subjected to a brutal racist attack from 8 white youths that left him in a coma. He was beaten and stabbed to the point where it was obvious that the attackers had intended to kill him. This happened in 1993 and in 1995 the only man to go to court over the attack, John Rutter, was cleared. Despite the fact that Rutters brother had said to an under cover cop that John had done it, this could not be used as evidence as it was not put forward in the trial.
Mukthar Ahmed - In 1994 the 19 year old was savagely beaten by a gang of 25 racists. His face was swollen and bruised, his scalp almost removed and his skull was fractured in 3 places. Nicky Fuller was eventually arrested for the crime after his ex girlfirend told poice that he had come met her in blood stained jeans boasting that he "done a paki". Unfortunately her selfless good deed didnt do much, Nicky Fuller was charged with causing GBH (Grievous Bodily Harm) and violent disorder. He pleaded guilty to the second minor charge which led to the CPS dropping the more serious charge. The judge then let him walk free from the court as he had already served 6 months on remand.
Shah Alam - A 17 year old student was set upon by a gang of 10-12 racist thugs. They hit him over the head with a hammer and repeatedly stabbed and kicked him. He was rushed to hospital where he had to have hours of surgery on his lungs, liver and kidneys. When released from hospital he had to be moved out of london for his safety beacuse whilst he was admitted his brother in law had recieved racist hate mail, one of which read "Be prepared for whats to come! You Paki!" A large gang of white youths ran down East London showing knives and sticks in broad day light with NO intervention from police. When they picked up one suspect he had blood on his shoes but the poice said that the amount was too small too test so they wrote to the family and said they were closing their investigation. After public pressure and positive ID's made from the victim and witnesses 5 youths stood trial. They were (surprisingly acquitted) They stood trial twice and due to the racist beliefs of the judge (both times) he said there was no case to answer against the 5. Whats worse is that when the 5 left court one of them went up to Shah's brother and punched him in the chest, the police did nothing and when people complained the police said that there was nothing they could do about it.
Ricky Peel - In 1997 Ricky had been racially abused and went missing. His body showed up in the River Thames and the police refused to investigate the racial incident and claimed that he must have slipped into the river. They had no evidence to back this theory up. An independent pathologist said that 3rd pary involvement can not be ruled out and pointed out various suspicious circumstances.
As well as re opening all these cases the Macpherson Inquiry also looked in to the amount of black deaths in police custody and concluded that there was nearly 8 times more black deaths than white and that no police officer has ever stood trial for one.
With 2 of Stephens suspects finally imprisoned all that can be hoped for is that every racist murderer be sent down. Through this blog I have hoped to highlight the disgust I felt when reading all about these cases, to me their is no lower than a racist and if we continue to ignore their crimes and walk away from their victims we are just making them stronger. Fight for Equality on all sides!
*Of course the Macpherson report included a lot more than I have gone into, it stood to make our police force a stronger and more fair one, it tackled racism and made sure all the police that were found to be racist and negligant were fired. I do recommend people go through it if you have the time of course,a summary of it can be found on http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/feb/24/lawrence.ukcrime12
