Stephen Lawrence memorial: Meghan Markle and Prince Harry join family of murdered London teen 25 years after fatal stabbing

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle joined the family of Stephen Lawrence at a memorial marking 25 years since the teenager's murder.

The couple spoke to Stephen’s mother Baroness Lawrence and her son Stuart at the entrance of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square.

The prince is expected to read a message of support on behalf of Prince Charles at the service. Theresa May was also in attendance.

Stephen's murder in 1993 exposed institutional racism within the Metropolitan Police and led to a change in the law allowing suspects to be tried twice for the same crime.

The 18-year-old student was stabbed to death at a bus stop in southeast London in an unprovoked attack by a gang of white youths shouting racist abuse.

Five men were arrested in the following months, but charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Two of the men were later convicted of murder in 2012.

The case became a catalyst for change after exposing deep-rooted failings in the Met's forces, dominated by senior white officers in an increasingly multiracial society.

A 1999 report by senior judge William Macpherson said the murder had exposed "institutional racism" in the force and also accused officers of incompetence and a failure of leadership.

At the memorial service, Sir Lenny Henry was set to interview three young beneficiaries of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust, which last year supported over 2,000 young people through training, mentoring, bursaries and other activities.

Stephen’s father Neville Lawrence, 76, announced last week he had made the decision to forgive his son’s killers. He said: “The fact that I had to lose my first child has been devastating. I can’t begin to explain the pain and the anguish me and my family have suffered over the past 25 years.”

Scotland Yard has admitted it has no new lines of inquiry in the investigation into Stephen’s murder.

Two of the group of up to six thugs who attacked the teenager and his friend Duwayne Brooks, simply because they were black, have been convicted of murder.

David Norris, 41, and Gary Dobson, 42, are both serving life sentences. Three other men who have consistently been accused of the killing but never convicted are Jamie Acourt, 41, from Bexley, his brother Neil Acourt, 42, who uses his mother’s maiden name Stuart, and Luke Knight, 41, both from Eltham.

Additional reporting by the Press Association