I awoke this morning to the news that Doreen Lawrence, mother of the murdered teenaged Stephen Lawrence, is to meet the Home Secretary today to receive assurance that the two (yes, two) inquiries currently underway will not be affected by fresh allegations that police officers secretly taped the chief prosecution witness at the time of the initial inquiry.
Now, let’s cut to the chase here. Yes, a teenager was murdered and like all murders, it was a terrible thing. But we are talking about something that happened 20 years ago and whilst there is no doubting that this particular murder became important for all kinds of reasons and proved to be the catalyst for much needed and long overdue change in the way the police operated, can it really be right that our Home Secretary drops everything to meet the victim’s mother simply because of accusations made on a TV programme?
Does she not have more important things to deal with? Like the fact that we have a war in all but name going on within our own borders at the moment? Or that the country is teetering on the edge of a civil explosion?
No one can, nor should, ever belittle the loss a mother feels at the death of her son but has the time for bending over backwards to appease the Lawrence family not now passed?
More importantly, given the amount of money and time (both police and government) which has and is still being consumed by this particular case, not to mention the changes to policing which have already been brought about as a result of previous enquiries, should the family not be confident enough to know that whatever needs to be done is being done?
Or has this case, as many people increasingly suspect, now become more about retribution than it is about justice?
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Well if it was my child and i found out the case had not been investigated properly, and instead of finding out who had done it spent thousands on trying to discredit family then i would want justice.
Until you have been there, be it Hillsbrough, the lawrence’s its hard to understand.
You’re missing the point. It’s not about getting justice, it’s about the fact that every time something new comes up, they summon her to Downing Street to apologise. Why?
Has no one heard of the phone? Or could someone involved with one of the two enquiries currently underway into the handling of this case just not pop round and see her?
The original reply is quite right that until you’ve been there it’s difficult to understand, but since the murder there has been 5 changes in Met Police Commissioner, 2 changes of Government and 8 different Home Secretaries – at what point do you draw a line at apologising for what happened not only in the past but also totally out of the control of those currently issuing the apologies? Bernard Hogan-Howe, the current Met chief, is due to appear before the Greater London Authority soon and I’m sure he’ll be as publically sympathetic towards Doreen Lawrence’s demands for an inquiry as Theresa May was.
Family, friends and campaigners are right to be angry at the failure to bring murderers to justice – and personally I’m bemused as to just how the Met Police had so much time, money and resources to spend on attempts to discredit people when there was more worthy work to be done… if that’s really what Peter Francis is suggesting. But there have been inquiries, there are more in process and no doubt more to come. I’ve no objections to the inquiries; although they won’t turn back time, they will at least (hopefully) prevent the same mistakes happening again.
Maybe the Home Secretary being sympathetic towards those that suffer injustice at the hands of incompetent Police is just easier to face and gain positive press than challenging other serious issues.