Discover Macpherson

Considered one of the five prime suspects in the case, Neil Acourt was 17 at the time of the murder of Stephen Lawerence. He lived near the scene at Bournbrook Avenue with his younger brother Jamie and two older brothers.

BIOGRAPHY

Jamie Acourt

Considered one of the five prime suspects in the case, Jamie Acourt was 16 at the time Stephen Lawrence was murdered. He lived near the scene at Bournbrook Avenue with his brother Neil and two other brothers.

BIOGRAPHY

John Barker

Detective Chief Superintendent. A former head of Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad, Barker carried out a formal review of the first investigation in November 1993. His findings (which can be read here) cleared officers involved of any shortcomings or mistakes and were relied on by the Metropolitan Police for years.

BIOGRAPHY

Stacey Benefield

Local boy who told police he had been stabbed by David Norris weeks before the Lawrence murder. The case was brought to court despite reported attempts to bribe Benefield, but Norris was acquitted. The Inquiry was concerned about whether police acted promptly enough on Benefield’s information.

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Christopher Benn

Police Chief Superintendent who took over control of the crime scene from Inspector Groves.

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Linda Bethel

Police Constable who was one of the first to reach the murder scene.

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John Bevan

Detective Sergeant who was the lead officer handling liaison with the Lawrence family.

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Duwayne Brooks

Alongside Stephen Lawrence, Duwayne Brooks was a target of the racist attack at the Eltham bus stop. He managed to get away but was traumatised. Aged 18 at the time, he had been a school friend of Stephen’s and the two remained close. Though he was the principal witness to the attack his evidence was dismissed in the private prosecution and the complex reasons for this became important elements of the inquiry, where he was represented by his own legal team. He received an apology from the Metropolitan Police for his treatment.

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Benjamin Bullock

Detective Inspector who was deputy to the Senior Investigating Officer, Brian Weeden.

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David Clapperton

Detective Chief Superintendent at Kent Constabulary. Clapperton managed the Police Complaints Authority (PCA) review of the first investigation, whose report (which can be read here) was highly critical of the Metropolitan Police.

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Sir Paul Condon (later Lord Condon)

Metropolitan Police Commissioner. Condon became head of the Metropolitan Police in 1993, promising notably to root out corruption. He carried ultimate responsibility for the police handling of the case from that date up to and through the Inquiry.

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Emma Cook

Local girl, the girlfriend of ‘EE’, who was believed by police to have passed the crime scene around the time of the murder, but who denied having witnessed anything important.

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Tom Cook

One of the three ‘advisers’ who sat alongside Sir William Macpherson, Cook was a former Deputy Chief Constable of West Yorkshire Police and had a history of involvement in race relations issues.

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Ian Crampton

Detective Superintendent Ian Crampton was the first Senior Investigating Officer (SIO) in the case, taking charge on the night of the murder but handing over to DS Brian Weeden after three days. He visited the murder scene, questioned Duwayne Brooks and was briefed on the various tip-offs abut the suspect group. The inquiry looked closely at whether he should have ordered prompt arrests.

BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Crowley

Detective Sergeant. Not part of the Lawrence murder inquiry team, his only involvement in the case was to drive Duwayne Brooks home from an identification parade. Their conversation in the car became of critical importance to the private prosecution and to the Inquiry as it was held to bear on Brooks’s reliability as an identification witness.

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John Davidson

Detective Sergeant leading ‘outside’ inquiries into the murder, in other words the principal active detective on the case. He handled the informant ‘James Grant’ and interviewed key local people including Michelle Casserley, Witness K and Stacy Benefield.

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Gary Dobson

One of the prime suspects in the case in the period leading to the Inquiry, Dobson lived close to the scene and was friendly with the Acourts. Police believed he might be a weak link in the group. Dobson was convicted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 2012.

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‘E.E.’

Boyfriend of Emma Cook. She left his home near the murder scene shortly before the murder. EE and his brother had a history of hostile relations with the Courts.

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James Geddis

Police Constable who, when off duty, passed the scene in his car, with his wife, and stopped to help Stephen as he lay dying.

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Anthony Gleason

Police Constable who was one of the early arrivals at the murder scene, and who went on to the hospital.

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Jeremy Gompertz

Lead counsel for the Metropolitan Police.

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James Grant

This was the pseudonym given to an anonymous young informant who told police 22 hours after the murder that the Acourts, David Norris and two other youths were responsible, providing considerable background on the group. The handling of this information, and the subsequent treatment of ‘Grant’ by the police, were the subjects of keen interest at the inquiry.

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Stephen Groves

Police Inspector who took charge at the murder scene. He was criticised in the Inquiry report.

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Linda Holden

Detective Constable who was a liaison officer to the Lawrence family.

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William (Bill) Ilsley

Detective Chief Superintendent with oversight of major investigations in ‘3 Area’, which included Eltham. He met the Lawrences and co-signed, with Weeden, the eventual decision to make arrests.

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Ian Johnston

Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police. He hd oversight of the second investigation and delivered the official police apology to the Lawrences at the Inquiry on 17 June 1998.

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Imran Khan

From very soon after the murder Imran Khan was solicitor to the Lawrences and was one of their closest advisers. He was regarded as hostile by many in the police. With the barrister Michael Mansfield, he led the private prosecution and acted for the Lawrences throughout the inquest and the Inquiry.

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Luke Knight

Considered one of the five principal suspects in the case, Luke Knight lived close to the scene of the murder and was a school friend of Jamie Acourt. He was 16 at the time of the murder.

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Doreen Lawrence (later Baroness Lawrence)

Stephen Lawrence’s mother was 30 when he was murdered. Born Doreen Graham in Jamaica, she came to Britain in 1961 and married Neville Lawrence in 1972 . They brought up their three children up in Plumstead, southeast London. The couple were critical of the police response to the killing from an early date and by the time of the Inquiry were well-known public figures. In 2013 she became Baroness Lawrence. Her statements to the Inquiry are here.

BIOGRAPHY

Neville Lawrence

Stephen Lawrence’s father came to Britain from Jamaica in 1960 and worked at first as a tailor and later in the building trade. He married Doreen Graham in 1972 and they settled in Plumstead, southeast London. Stephen was the oldest of their three children. The couple were critical of the police response to the killing from an early date and by the time of the Inquiry were well-known public figures. Neville Lawrence’s statements to the Inquiry are here

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Edmund Lawson QC

Lawson was leading counsel to the Inquiry and in that capacity, on behalf of the chair and advisers, led in the questioning of the principal witnesses.

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Ian Macdonald QC.

Lead Counsel for Duwayne Brooks.

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Sir William Macpherson

Sir William Macpherson of Cluny was chair of the inquiry into the murder. A Scottish artistocrat (the 27th hereditary chief of his clan) and a retired judge (in the High Court from 1983 to 1996) he was 71 when the inquiry began. His appointment by Home Secretary Jack Straw provoked initial objections from the Lawrences, who said his record on the bench suggested a lack of sympathy on race issues, but Straw declined to replace him.

JACK STRAW

JUDGE

HIGH COURT

BIOGRAPHY

Michael Mansfield

Nationally famous by 1998 as a human rights barrister, Michael Mansfield QC had acted for the Lawrences since 1994 and played a leading role in the private prosecution and the inquest. Instructed by solicitor Imran Khan, he led a team of barristers and his aggressive questioning of witnesses did much to set the tone of the inquiry.

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Alexandra Marie

A French au pair working in London in 1993, Marie was one of those waiting at the bus stop where Stephen Lawrence and Duwayne Brooks were attacked and was thus a witness to the murder.

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William (Bill) Mellish

Detective Superintendent, and third Senior Investigating Officer on the case. Taking over from Brian Weeden, he deployed a new approach including the arrest of Clifford Norris and the use of electronic surveillance. He ultimately assisted the Lawrences in their private prosecution.

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Clifford Norris

A drug smuggler with a history of violence, Cliff Norris is the father of David Norris. On the run from police at the time of Stephen Lawrence’s murder, he was suspected of exerting influence to protect his son, notably by bribing or threatening possible witnesses but also, allegedly, through contacts in the police. He was captured in 1994 in the course of the second investigation into the Lawrence murder and jailed for eight years.

BIOGRAPHY

David Norris

Convicted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence alongside Gary Dobson in 2012, Norris had been a leading suspect since very soon after it occurred. Aged 16 at the time, and the son of Clifford Norris, a leading drug importer with a history of violence, he had known the Acourts since childhood and in 1993 was spending a lot of his time with them. He was linked to other knife crimes, including the stabbing of Stacey Benefield, of which he was later acquitted. He was arrested in the first Lawrence investigation but not charged and was a defendant in the private prosecution but was discharged at the committal stage.

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David Osland

Deputy Assistant Assistant Commissioner (3 Area). The most senior officer to have direct involvement in the Lawrence case at the time of the first investigation.

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John Philpott

Chief Superintendent based in Woolwich. His involvement in the case was early and brief.

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John Sentamu

One of the three ‘advisers’ who sat alongside Sir William Macpherson, the Sentamu was Bishop for Stepney in east London and chair of the Church of England Committee for Minority Ethnic Concerns. He practised as a lawyer in his native Uganda before fleeing the regime of dictator Idi Amin. In 2005 he became Archbishop of York.

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Joey Shepherd

One of those waiting at the bus stop where Stephen Lawrence and Duwayne Brooks were attacked and thus a witness to the murder. He recognised Stephen, who was a neighbour, and brought first word of the attack to Stephen’s home.

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Joanne Smith

Police Constable who was one of the early arrivals at the scene.

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Richard Stone

One of the three ‘advisers’ who sat alongside Sir William Macpherson, Stone was a prominent London GP, working in the Notting Hill area, and was chair of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality.

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Conor Taafe

A passer-by who helped comfort Stephen as he died. He was thus a witness to police conduct at the scene after the death.

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Brian Weeden

Detective Superintendent who took over as Senior Investigating Officer from Ian Crampton and remained in charge for three days.

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Royston Westbrook

A hospital support worker, Westbrook was one of those waiting at the bus stop where Stephen Lawrence and Duwayne Brooks were attacked and thus a witness to the murder.

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‘Witness B'

A local youth who told police he saw, from a bus, a group running near the the scene of the murder.

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‘Witness K’

A local man, real name Matthew or Matty White, who visited the Acourt house shortly after the murder. Others reported later that White said he saw evidence of panic in the house and that some of the boys had wet hair, though he refused to confirm this to police. In 2023 a BBC investigation suggested that White, who by then had died, may in fact have been a member of the attacking group, possibly the blond figure seen by some witnesses.

BIOGRAPHY

Howard Youngerwood

Senior prosecutor at the Crown Prosecution Service.

Who's Who

Neil Acourt

Jamie Acourt

John Barker

Stacey Benefield

Christopher Benn

Linda Bethel

John Bevan

Duwayne Brooks

Benjamin Bullock

David Clapperton

Sir Paul Condon (later Lord Condon)

Emma Cook

Tom Cook

Ian Crampton

Christopher Crowley

John Davidson

Gary Dobson

‘E.E.’

James Geddis

Anthony Gleason

Jeremy Gompertz

James Grant

Stephen Groves

Linda Holden

William (Bill) Ilsley

Ian Johnston

Imran Khan

Luke Knight

Doreen Lawrence (later Baroness Lawrence)

Neville Lawrence

Edmund Lawson QC

Ian Macdonald QC.

Sir William Macpherson

Michael Mansfield

Alexandra Marie

William (Bill) Mellish

Clifford Norris

David Norris

David Osland

John Philpott

John Sentamu

Joey Shepherd

Joanne Smith

Richard Stone

Conor Taafe

Brian Weeden

Royston Westbrook

‘Witness B'

‘Witness K’

Howard Youngerwood

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