IPCC takes lead in Lawrence corruption claims
The police complaints watchdog is to conduct its own investigation into allegations of corruption in the Stephen Lawrence murder case.
The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said that while it welcomed the Metropolitan police services’ (MPS’s) promise of full co-operation, it wanted its own investigators to probe claims that a senior officer in the case took a bribe.
Yesterday, Met commissioner Ian Blair said his force would take a “rigorous and appropriate approach” to the allegations, which were made in a BBC documentary about the murder of the black teenager in south-east London in 1993.
A former corrupt policeman turned whistleblower accused a senior official in the Lawrence case, det sgt John Davidson, of taking money from the father of one of the murder suspects to deliberately obstruct it. He firmly denies all allegations.
Neil Putnam also told the programme that he had informed the Met several times of his concerns about Mr Davidson, but they did nothing about it. The Met denies this.
Speaking to a meeting of the Metropolitan police authority yesterday, Sir Ian said the Stephen Lawrence case remained open and insisted the force would “never let up, certainly not my watch” in its efforts to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Five men were questioned in for the 18-year-old’s murder, but there was never enough evidence to bring them to court. However, the McPherson report into the inquiries later condemned the Met for “professional incompetence and institutional racism”.
The allegations of corruption this week have brought these criticisms back into the fore, but yesterday Sir Ian insisted that while the allegations “cast a long shadow, they do have very little resonance with the current state of the Metropolitan police”.
The force had “entirely revamped” the way it handled murder cases, he said, and had “virtually excavated corruption within its ranks with an investment and determination unmatched anywhere else”.
In today’s statement, IPCC deputy chairman John Wadham said he had spoken to the Met and “welcome their promise of full co-operation”. But he said the complaints made by Stephen’s parents, Neville and Doreen, “should be investigated independently”.
“Our intention is to start with and focus on the two allegations made in the recent documentary. The first is that an officer, or officers, may have received bribes and secondly, that this claim had been reported to the MPS but not investigated,” he said.
He added: “We intend to ensure that if our investigation uncovers material that is helpful to the MPS, in their investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence, we will make sure that we provide this to them.”
