Stephen Lawrence: Inquiry (Hansard, 31 July 1997)

§ Lord Williams of Mostyn

My right honourable friend has decided to establish an inquiry under Section 49 of the Police Act 1996. The terms of reference of that inquiry will be:

to inquire into the matters arising from the death of Stephen Lawrence on 22 April 1993 to date, and to identify the lessons to be learned for the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes.

My right honourable friend has appointed Sir William MacPherson of Cluny, formerly High Court Judge of the Queen's Bench, to conduct this Inquiry. He will be supported in carrying out this Inquiry by: Mr. Thomas Cook (former Deputy Chief Constable of West Yorkshire); the rt Reverend John Sentamu, Bishop of Stepney; and Dr. Richard Stone (Chairman of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality). Under Section 49, the inquiry will have the powers to summon any person to give evidence, to require the production of documents and to take evidence on oath.

The handling of this case by the Metropolitan Police is the subject of complaints made by the Lawrence family which are currently under investigation in accordance with police complaints procedures. That investigation is being supervised by the Police Complaints Authority. The authority expects the investigation to be completed in September and to report the outcome in October. Under Section 97(2) of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984, the authority may make a report to the Secretary of State on any matters coming to its notice to which it considers that his attention should be drawn by reason of their gravity 93WA or of other exceptional circumstances. The authority intends to produce a report on this case under that special provision. Under Section 97(5) of the 1984 Act that report must be laid before Parliament and published.

The inquiry under the Police Act will begin when the Police Complaints Authority report has been completed. That will allow the inquiry to consider any issues emerging from the investigation supervised by the Police Complaints Authority. The inquiry's statutory powers will also allow it to require the production of any evidence gathered during the course of the Police Complaints Authority investigation. My right honourable friend the Attorney General has also confirmed that the full co-operation of the Crown Prosecution Service will be given to the inquiry.

We believe that the establishment of this inquiry following the completion of the investigation supervised by the Police Complaints Authority will allow the concerns of the Lawrence family and others to be fully addressed, and will identify the lessons to be learned from this tragic case which will be relevant to the future handling of racially motivated crimes by the criminal justice system.