The former most senior police officer in Britain is being investigated over allegations of a cover up by the Metropolitan Police over its investigation of the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
Lord Stevens, who served as the Met’s Commissioner from 2000-2005, is the subject of a complaint about information he gave to the 1998 Macpherson Inquiry into the original investigation into the teenager’s killing, the Independentreports.
The investigation, which took place when Lord Stevens was the Met’s Deputy Commissioner, detailed evidence of “institutional racism” at the time.
In a statement the Met said: “Following the receipt of a public complaint in relation to Lord (John) Stevens, former commissioner, the Metropolitan Police Service made a referral to the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) on 4 November 2014.
“The complaint has been made in relation to Lord Stevens’ role as the then Deputy Commissioner and disclosure to the Macpherson Inquiry.
“This issue was raised in the Stephen Lawrence Independent Review by Mark Ellison QC, published on 6 March, where he concluded there were defects in the level of information that the MPS revealed to the Inquiry.”
The 18-year-old black teenager was stabbed to death by up to six white youths in an unprovoked racist attack as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993. It took more than 18 years to bring two of his killers, Gary Dobson and David Norris, to justice. The pair were jailed for life in January 2012 for their role in the attack.
The prosecution was led by Mark Ellison QC who was later commissioned to review Scotland Yard’s investigation into alleged police corruption.
A spokeswoman from the IPCC confirmed Lord Stevens’ actions were being investigated. “We can confirm we are independently investigating Lord John Stevens following a referral from the Metropolitan Police,” she said.
Lord Stevens was accused by Neville Lawrence, Stephen’s father, of not giving a “full, frank and truthful” response to the inquiry into his son’s death and the subsequent investigation.
Speaking to Channel 4 news he said: “This is not the first time that we’ve asked them to look into it and they’ve come back with a negative result.
“I’m hoping that this time they’re going to come back with a result that can help us to get further into the truth of what was happening during the investigation into Stephen’s death.”
Lord Stevens said Mr Ellison had written a letter to him saying: “No one is suggesting that you did anything that was culpable in any way,” adding, “Step very carefully, I’m not putting up with any more crap about this.”