Stephen Lawrence

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Stephen Lawrence was born in Greenwich on 13th September 1974 to Jamaican parents who had emigrated to the Uk in the 1960s. Brought up in Plumstead, South East London, he was the eldest of 3 children, the others being Stuart, and Georgina. During his teenage years, Stephen excelled in running, competing for the local Cambridge Harriers athletics club, and appeared as an extra in Denzel Washington's film For Queen and Country.

Stephen had spent the day of Thursday 22nd April 1993 at Blackheath Bluecoat School. After school, he visited shops in Lewisham, then travelled by bus to an uncle's house in Grove Park. He was joined there by Duwayne Brooks, and they played video games until leaving at around 10:00pm. After realising that the 286 bus on which they were travelling would get them home late, they decided to change for either bus routes 161 or 122 on Well Hall Road.

Stephen and Duwayne arrived at the bus stop on Well Hall Road at 10:25pm. Stephen walked along Well Hall Road to the junction of Dickson Road to see if he could see a bus coming and then went back towards the bus stop. Duwanye was still on Well Hall Road, part way between Dickson Road and the roundabout with Rochester Way and Westhorne Avenue.

At this point, Duwayne saw a group of 5 or 6 white youths crossing over Rochester Way on the opposite side of the street near the area of the zebra crossing and moving towards them. At or just after 10:38pm, he called out to ask whether Stephen saw the bus coming. Duwayne claimed that he heard one of Stephen's assailants saying "What, what, n****r?" As they all quickly crossed the road and "engulfed" Stephen.

The attackers forced Stephen to the ground, then stabbed him to a depth of about 5 inches on both sides of the front of his body, in the right collarbone and left shoulder. Both wounds severed axillary arteries before penetrating a lung. Stephen lost all feeling in his right arm and his breathing was constricted, while he was losing blood from 4 major blood vessels. Duwayne began running, and shouted for Stephen to run to escape with him. While the attackers disappeared down Dickson Road, Duwayne and Stephen ran in the direction of Shooters Hill. Stephen collapsed after running 130 yards; he bled to death soon afterwards.

Duwayne ran to call an ambulance while an off duty police officer stopped his car and covered Stephen with a blanket. Stephen was taken to Brook General Hospital by 11:05pm, but he was already dead.

All 3 witnesses at the bus stop at the time of the attack said in statements that the attack was sudden and short, although none was later able to identify the suspects. In the days following Stephen's murder, several residents came forward to provide names of suspects and an anonymous note was left on a police car windscreen and in a telephone box naming a local gang as the 5 main suspects. The suspects were Gary Dobson, brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight and David Norris. In February 1999, officers investigating the handling of the initial inquiry revealed that a woman who might have been a vital witness had telephoned detectives 3 times within the first few days after the killing, and appealed for her to contact them again. The 5 suspects were previously involved in racist knife attacks around the Eltham area. 4 weeks before Stephen's death, Gary Dobson and Neil Acourt were involved in a racist attack on a black teenager, Kevin London, whom they verbally abused and attempted to stab. Neil's brother Jamie was accused of stabbing teenagers Darren Witham in May 1992 and Darren Giles in 1994, causing Darren Giles to have a heart attack. The stabbings of victims Gurdeep Bhangal and Stacey Benefield, which both occurred in March 1993, in Eltham, were also linked to Neil and Jamie Acourt, David Norris and Gary Dobson.

Within 3 days of the crime, prime suspects had been identified. No arrests were made, however, until over 2 weeks after the murder. Detective Superintendent Brian Weeden, the officer who had been leading the murder investigation from its 3rd day, and who would ultimately lead the murder squad for 14 months, explained to an incredulous public inquiry in 1998 that a part of the reason no arrests had taken place by the 4th day after the killing was that he had not known the law allowed arrest upon reasonable suspicion - a basic point of criminal law.

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