Undercover police inquiry to hold Stephen Lawrence silence

Undercover officers spied on the justice campaign for the 18-year-old, who was murdered by a gang of racists in Eltham, south east London, in 1993.

Incompetence, alleged corruption and racism in the police meant that it took nearly 20 years to convict two of his killers, while the remaining three have never been brought to justice.

Doreen Lawrence and her son Stuart at a memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, London to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murder of Stephen Lawrence (David Parker/DailyMail/PA)

The Undercover Policing Inquiry will hold a minute's silence on Thursday, the anniversary of Stephen's death, in his memory.

The black teenager's parents, Doreen and Neville Lawrence, and his friend, Duwayne Brooks, who was with him on the night he died, were all reported on by undercover police and are all classed as core participants in the public inquiry.

Stephen Lawrence

As well as remembering Stephen, on Friday a minute's silence will be held for anti-racism campaigner Blair Peach, who died after being hit over the head by a police officer during a protest in Southall, west London, on April 24 1979.

His partner, Celia Stubbs, who will give evidence to the inquiry in the next few weeks, was spied upon by undercover officers as she campaigned for justice.

The current series of hearings in the mammoth public inquiry is looking at police activity between 1973 and 1982.