Matthew White has been named as a suspect in the murder of Stephen Lawrence, three decades after the Black teenager was stabbed to death by a gang of white youths.
The Metropolitan Police apologised after naming the news suspect, saying “unfortunately, too many mistakes” were made in the initial investigation, which was hampered by racism and corruption, into what remains one of the UK’s most notorious racist killings.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, has called for officers to be sacked following the latest turn in the case. “Only when police officers lose their jobs can the public have confidence that failure and incompetence will not be tolerated and that change will happen,” she said.
Mr White, a drug user who died in 2021 aged 50, was a witness during the trials of two men - David Norris and Gary Dobson - who were convicted of Mr Lawrence’s 1993 murder and handed life sentences.
But he first came to police attention in May 1993 when he told officers he had visited the home address of two other suspects on the night of the murder.
He was also the source of many of the rumours that swirled around the Brook estate in Eltham, southeast London, where Mr Lawrence was murdered, that the Acourt gang had stabbed Mr Lawrence.
Matthew White died in 2021 aged 50— (BBC)
The Acourt gang was led by brothers Neil, Jamie as well as Norris. They called themselves the Krays and a litany of violent incidents in and around the predominantly white estate where they lived were attributed to members of their gang and their associates.
According to various accounts, Mr White said he saw Neil and Jamie Acourt and Dobson in a state of undress and with wet hair on the night of the murder.
He was also alleged to have claimed that he saw a blood-stained knife being washed. Despite this Mr White, who was named publicly in 2011, was never called to give evidence.
Mr White gave a short statement to the police, giving details of what he claimed to have seen. He reportedly suggested that the stabbing might have been carried out as an initiation by someone who wanted to join the Acourt gang.
He was interviewed by John Davidson, detective sergeant, who was later accused by a former colleague of being paid by Mr Norris’s father Clifford to obstruct the case in a bid to protect the suspects.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission, however, found no evidence to support these claims, following an investigation.
The Macpherson inquiry also found no evidence to suggest that he was influenced by Clifford Norris but criticised him for his harsh questioning of witnesses, including Mr White.
The former officer was not called by the prosecution to give evidence but a transcript of his interview with Dobson revealed that he had repeatedly pressed him to admit that David Norris was a close friend.
His parents later complained that the police had treated him harshly during questioning.
Doreen Lawrence has expressed fury that no police officers have faced action over the bungled handling of information about a sixth suspect in the murder of her son Stephen (PA)— (PA Media)
Mr White was arrested and interviewed in March 2000 and in December 2013 but the Met seriously mishandled inquiries related to him, the BBC reported.
In 2013 it was discovered that in 1993, a Met officer who was not involved in the investigation team sent a message regarding a relative of White who may hold information.
The relative was not named and was subsequently misidentified. This was a significant and regrettable error. It was not until 2013 that the correct relative was identified and the new information obtained.
A file on Mr White was submitted to prosecutors in May 2005 and October 2014, but the Crown Prosecution Service said there was no prospect of a conviction for any offence on both occasions.
Mr Lawrence, an inspiring architect, was attacked by a pack of white, racist youths as he waited at a bus stop with a friend in Eltham, southeast London.
He was attacked with a knife and got 100 metres along the road away from his attackers before he collapsed, bleeding from two stab wounds that proved fatal.
The bungled original investigation was hampered by racism and alleged police corruption, meaning it took nearly 20 years for two of the 18-year-old’s killers to be brought to justice, with three named suspects never prosecuted.
It prompted the landmark Macpherson report which concluded that the Met was institutionally racist and that a number of errors were made by detectives working on the case.
Five prime suspects became widely known after the murder, but the public inquiry said there were "five or six" attackers present at the scene where Mr Lawrence was killed.
Luke Knight and the Acourt brothers have been suspects for 30 years. All three have denied being involved. Neil Acourt and Knight were acquitted of murder in 1996.
Duwayne Brooks, who was with Mr Lawrene on the night of 22 April 1993, said there were six attackers.
The sixth suspect was unidentified and known only as the “fair-haired attacker”. The Metropolitan Police named this suspect as Mr White following an investigation by the BBC.
