Yahoo News Why is the Stephen Lawrence murder case so important?
A suspect in the murder of Stephen Lawrence has been publicly named for the first time.
A BBC investigation found that the Metropolitan Police mishandled inquiries relating to Matthew White, who died in 2021, aged 50.
The force has apologised for mistakes it made in the original investigation 30 years ago.
It said White was arrested twice over Stephen's murder, but on both occasions there wasn't enough evidence for a prosecution.
The 18-year-old was stabbed to death on 22 April 1993 in an unprovoked, racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Eltham, south east London, after he was set upon by a gang of young white men shouting racial slurs and brandishing weapons.
The failure of the first police investigation into the murder led to a public inquiry that concluded the Met was institutionally racist.
What happened to Stephen Lawrence?
Stephen Lawrence, 18, from Plumstead, was stabbed to death by a gang of young white men in Eltham, south east London, on 22 April 1993.
He had been waiting for a bus at the time with his friend, Duwayne Brooks, who said six white youths forced Stephen to the ground and stabbed him.
Stephen collapsed after running more than 100 yards from where he was attacked. He died soon afterwards.
Watch: Stephen Lawrence honoured at memorial service 30 years after his murder
Within days of the murder, five main suspects were identified: Gary Dobson, brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight, and David Norris.
However, no arrests were made by the Metropolitan Police until two weeks after the murder and officers did not search the suspects' houses for four days.
Neil Acourt and Knight were charged with murder, but the charges were dropped in July 1993 after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) cited insufficient evidence.
The following year, Stephen's family, led by his mother Doreen and his father Neville, launched a private prosecution against the five suspects but this fell through because of a lack of evidence.
In 1997, following Stephen's inquest, in which the five suspects refused to answer questions, an inquiry was ordered by then home secretary Jack Straw. The resulting Macpherson Report, published in 1999, found the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist".
Following a cold case review and new scientific evidence, comprising a stain of Stephen's blood on Dobson's jacket and fibres from Stephen's clothing and his hairs on Norris and Dobson's clothes, Dobson and Norris were found guilty of murder in January 2012.
They were each given a life sentence, with a minimum term of 15 years and two months for Dobson and 14 years and three months for Norris.
Two of the three remaining suspects, brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt, have since served jail time for drug dealing, while Luke Knight has remained free.
Why is the Stephen Lawrence case so important?
The Macpherson Report, ordered in the wake of Stephen's murder and carried out by High Court judge Sir William Macpherson, concluded that the Metropolitan Police was "institutionally racist".
It found that the original police investigation into Stephen's murder was incompetent.
The report recommended abolishing the double jeopardy rule to allow a retrial upon new and compelling evidence, a change which came into effect in 2005 and eventually led to the conviction of Dobson and Norris for Stephen's murder.
Jack Straw said ordering the Macpherson Report was the most important decision he made during his time as home secretary.
The report made 70 recommendations in all for reform across policing, criminal law, government, the NHS and schools to address issues of institutional racism.
Up to 67 of these recommendations let to changes within two years of the report's publication, including targets for the recruitment of black and Asian police officers. The report also led to the creation of the Independent Police Complaints Commission, now known as the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC).
Issues with racism and policing, however, very much remain an issue in the UK.
In March 2023, 24 years after the publication of the Macpherson Report, an inquiry by Baroness Casey - commissioned after Metropolitan Police officer Wayne Couzens kidnapped, raped and murdered Sarah Everard - found that the force was still institutionally racist, as well as institutionally misogynistic and homophobic.
On the 30th anniversary of Stephen's death in April, a month after the publication of the Casey Report, Met Police commissioner Sir Mark Rowley admitted the force "did not dig deep enough" to confront racism after Stephen's murder.
He said: “Thirty years on from Stephen’s murder, we offer our sympathies to the Lawrence family on their unimaginable loss.
“On behalf of the Metropolitan Police, I apologise again for our past failings which will have made the grief of losing a loved one all the more difficult to endure.
“We have let black communities down. They feel over-policed and under-protected."
Watch: Met Police chief apologises for 'ghastly' Casey Report findings
