Officers investigated for their roles during original Stephen Lawrence murder investigation to face no criminal charges

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has decided that there is insufficient evidence to charge any of the four former Metropolitan Police officers in relation to their handling of the original investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence and the attack on Duwayne Brooks on 22 April,1993. 

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) provided a file of evidence to the CPS in January 2021 and further documentation upon request in June 2021. We asked the CPS to consider whether the evidence, gathered as part of a six-year long investigation undertaken by the National Crime Agency (NCA) under the IOPC’s direction and control, relating to the actions and omissions of the four former officers in the early stages of the investigation into Stephen’s murder may constitute the criminal offence of misconduct in public office. All four were in senior roles at various times during the first few weeks of the murder investigation.  

In March 2014 the Ellison Review, which had been commissioned by the then Home Secretary Theresa May, was published and found that there remained some outstanding lines of enquiry which could be pursued in relation to a specific officer and possibly other officers, who may have acted corruptly during the original investigation into Stephen’s murder.

The Metropolitan Police referred the matter to the IOPC (then IPCC) in April 2014 and the terms of reference were agreed and the investigation began in March 2015.

Our investigation considered whether the officer identified by the Ellison Review was improperly influenced or motivated to protect at least one of the suspects during the original murder investigation. In early 2019, the officer was told they were no longer being investigated because there was no indication of corruption on their part in relation to the investigation of Stephen’s murder.

Subsequently the four former officers were criminally interviewed on suspicion of misconduct in public office. 

IOPC Director Sarah Green said:

“Our thoughts remain with Stephen’s family and friends and all of those who remain deeply affected by his racist murder. It was his brutal murder and its legacy, the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry report written by Sir William Macpherson, which ultimately led to the establishment of our own organisation.

“So it was important that we follow all possible lines of enquiry in order to determine whether corruption played a part in the well-documented failings of the original investigation into Stephen’s murder and the attack on Duwayne Brooks. 

“A vast amount of documentation, information and intelligence spanning 27 years, some of which was not available to the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry, was gathered and analysed. Over 150 people were interviewed including serving and former police officers and staff, relevant witnesses and others such as journalists with in-depth knowledge of the original murder investigation.

“At its peak, 50 NCA investigators and support workers were solely dedicated to uncovering whether corruption played a role in the first investigation into Stephen’s murder.

“This has been an exhaustive investigation and we are satisfied that the NCA has explored every possible avenue.

“We appreciate this has been a very long process for all of those affected and we have ensured that all interested parties have been updated throughout our investigation.  We remain committed to bringing to light those events from many years ago relating to Stephen’s racist murder and we will publish the reports from all the IOPC investigations which followed the Ellison Review as soon as we can.

“Although the CPS has decided there is insufficient evidence to charge the four former officers, it has offered the victims right to review of its decision so it would be inappropriate to comment further at this stage.”