APPENDIX 6

STATEMENT OF DOREEN LAWRENCE - 8th March 1998

[As provided to the Inquiry; read to the Inquiry on 25th March 1998].

My name is Doreen Lawrence. I was born on 24th October 1952 in Clarendon, Jamaica. I have two brothers and a sister. I am the eldest of the four of us. We were all born in the UK.

I lived with my mother in Jamaica and in 1954 she came to England leaving me with my grandmother until her death. I came to the United Kingdom in 196 I lived then tepfather in Brockley, South-East London. My mother had remarried before I arrived in England. My father had also remarried and now lived in North London. When I arrived in London I found it very frightening. The houses were close together and smoke would come out of the chimneys and all was generally dark and gloomy. I attended the John Stainer Primary School and then the Christopher Marlowe Secondary School in New Cross.

I obtained CSEs and when I left school I got a job as a bank clerk for NatWest Bank. I worked there for 4 years and left when I had Stephen. At that time I only had CSE qualifications but in the last five years I have gained a BA in Humanities and I am now doing an MSC in therapeutic counselling.

I met my husband Neville in early 1970, I was living in Greenwich with my other at the time. Neville and myself got married in 1972 in Lewisham Registry Office and went to live in Brockley. Later we moved to a flat in Plumstead and that is where Stephen was born on 13th September 1974.

I personally have never had any racism directed at me. There was always something I felt on the outskirts but nobody ever directly approached me and was racist towards me. I went to a racially mixed all girls school and I do not remember any. I don't have any close white friends from my school days, but I do have five black school friends who I am still very close to.

I didn't go into further education because in those days where black children were concerned you weren't really encouraged at school. I remember clearly when it was time to leave school - I can't remember exactly what I said I wanted, but I think I told them I wanted to go into banking or something like that and the teacher said, no, you must go and do that and the teacher said, like working in a factory. Being the eldest of four from a West Indian background I was given much more responsibilities than other children. I looked after my younger brothers and sisters and that prevented me from studying in a way I wanted to. I did know, however, that doing something with my hands was clearly not something that I wanted to do.

I went on then and looked for my own job, I just applied for things through the papers. I had quite a few interviews, all in banking, and I went to NatWest Bank. About three of us from school went and worked at the same bank. I did the normal entrance tests and I passed that and worked there for four years.

I remained in contact with my brothers and sisters throughout this period, we were all relatively close. We did have problems as youngsters, of course, as teenagers growing up, rows with your mother and that sort of thing, that went on for a while. At times there was the odd major thing and we lost touch but we all got back together again afterwards.

When Stephen was born there were no major problems with him as a child. He was a good child and he was very happy. His early years were not problematic. He always knew, though, when things weren't right with him. You always felt that. Right up to primary school I can. You always felt that. Right up to primary school I can recall that Stephen was very bright. He knew what he wanted from a young age. He learned very quickly before he started school. He could write his name and he always picked up things quickly. He knew his alphabet as well. He could count and he recognised a few words. He was the type of child that whatever you taught him he always wanted to go one further but colouring and drawing was his special thing.

Stephen went to Cyril Henry Nursery in Woolwich on part-time basis and then later on to Eglington Primary School. I didn't work until Stephen was 18 months old. I didn't have a full-time job even then. Neville at that stage was learning his trade as a plasterer but by the time Stephen was born he was into retail, selling leather and things and after that he moved into the building trade.

At Stephen's primary school he was very happy, he got on well and he was well liked by the teachers. Every day each child would have a set of things they would do when they first came in. She would write letters and he had to go over them with a paintbrush and I think that helped him to develop his handwriting. He left primary school to go to Blackheath Bluecoat. We wanted him to go to Thomas Moore Catholic School but because we weren't practising Catholics we couldn't get him into there. I felt that this was a good school on academic achievements but because he wasn't accepted on religious grounds we had to start looking at other schools. I was impressed with Blackheath Bluecoat because I saw how the children were actually working. When you turned up at the school it looked very hard working and I was impressed, so we decided to send him there.

Stephen coped well at school. He had no problems academically at all. He did his GCEs but Stephen didn't really work as well as he could. I think because he was very bright it went a bit to his head and had he studied harder I think he would have got a much higher grade. However, having said that he did pass all of his GCEs. I certainly don't remember Stephen ever complaining about Blackheath Bluecoat. I know that sometimes he had felt that the Head Teacher was unjust in some of his ways. For example, quite a lot of black children were excluded from the school, but he personally never really encountered anything. His only brush with racism was back in primary school when he was quite young. There was a boy who lived up the road from us. They used to be friends. So I can't remember what started this off, but I do remember being called into school because apparently he had been getting into fights with this boy and, when I asked him about it, he told me that the boy had called him racist names. I'm not sure what the exact names were, but he would here it and so would his friends. I think at the time he was one of the few black children in the class, so the majority of his friends were white, and they would tell him what this boy had been saying about him. So he had the support of his white friends against this boy and they used to get into fights. When I went into the school, I told the Head that if the child was being racist to him, then Stephen was justified in sticking up for himself. That was the end of it and it didn't go any further because I think the Head recognised that Stephen was not the kind of child to be in fights and that it was only because of this incident. I would say that Stephen was aware of the racism however.

Stephen was also into sport. During Sports Days he always came top. He got a certificate, which is a Five Star, the highest award Blackheath Bluecoat awarded to anybody, he had a couple of those. He also ran for Cambridge Harriers. Initially he used to go to Sutcliffe Park, which is another athletics club, but there he was always experiencing some difficulty with the trainers. It was as if they had a sort of favouritism within that club and they saw him as being very young and, even though Stephen wanted to get on, I felt they were holding him back a bit.

Stephen's main interests were sport and education. He saw himself going into architecture as a profession, however. When he was about 7, or even before, he would set himself goals. I remember before his 6th birthday he said he wanted a watch for his sixth birthday and I said: "Only if you can tell the time", and he said: "When I am six, I will be able to tell the time", and of course he got his watch because he could tell the time by then. When it came to drawing and things, he was always doing that, he would do birthday cards, Christmas cards, and he would always make his own cards as a child and Mother's Day cards for me, and he was always into the Arts.

Racism isn't something that we dwelled on, I think and, looking back at things, Stephen actually protected me from a lot of things that were happening to him. He never told me everything. Occasionally he would mention the same boy that he had the original incident with, even though, when they left primary school and were on secondary school, this boy used to go to Eaglesfield, which is at the top of the road from where we lived. They were at different schools, but when they were coming home, because of the bus stop that the child would take home, they would meet each other, and I think that the child thought that maybe, as Stephen didn't have anybody around him on the way home, he could start on him; but no matter where he was, Stephen would never tolerate anything like that from him.

In secondary school Stephen didn't go around in a group. He had a close circle of friends. I remember by the time he was a sixth former though, you would only see him with one person, who was Elvin. Elvin was his best friend. Elvin was an arty person and, because he did a lot of work in art and they both had a flair for it, they would spend a lot of their time together. Elvin wasn't interested in sports however, so they never went training together but Elvin would come to our house. They went to Woolwich College together and spent time together, as they had done at school: they had been to the same secondary school.

Stephen also started Cubs at the age of eight. The church that we belonged to had their own little group and, because we were members of the child Stephen got involved in that. So he started off as a Cub and moved up to be a Scout. He was in the Scouts until he was in secondary school at about 13 or 14. In terms of activity, they had the Sports Day and, of course, Stephen loved to run. We have lots of his certificates at home. He had won all sorts of things. They would also put on shows and Christmas plays. It was a big thing for him being in the Scouts. I remember in one particular play in which he played Rupert the Bear, and dressed up in a costume with a white face and stripy trousers, he really enjoyed that. It was something that he enjoyed initially but, obviously, began to outgrow. They used to meet once a week, all the Scouts, and play games together and things; and because it was something to do with the church, they would have a parade one Sunday in the month as well. Stephen used to ask if he could carry the flag, which he really enjoyed. There was the Union Jack, St George's and other Guides and Scouts and Brownies and the different organisations would meet together on this day, so you had all the different flags.

Stephen had his black identity, and I would say he called himself a Jamaican. He went to Jamaica when he was four. He spent his first birthday out there, but he would never remember that. When he was four we went again and he was old enough to remember. He enjoyed his time out there, and it was something that he always said that he would like to do again.

He met Duwayne at secondary school because when he started they were in the same class. His relationship with Stephen only developed, I think, because Duwayne knew my brother and Duwayne's mother and my brother were friends; and I think that that is the way that Duwayne fits in. I felt that Duwayne - I'm not sure if it was about his own insecurity, but it often came across to me that Duwayne needed Stephen more than Stephen needed him. Stephen was an outgoing person: he would make friends easily and he had a lot of friends; he was extremely popular.

Stephen did work experience from school with an architect's firm for two weeks. He did this in November when he was doing his final year of GCEs. I am not sure what year it was, but I think it was 1991 and then the final year of GCEs. This placement we sought ourselves for him because what the school do is that they send a letter home telling you that the time is coming up, and that the school can provide something, but if you know anybody, you can accept that place.

Neville worked with someone who was a surveyor, or an engineer, and he introduced us to Arthur Timothy. Neville took Stephen along to meet him, this Arthur Timothy, and I think that, once he and Stephen met, they liked each other. They got on well and he was offered a place. It was at Tower Bridge, and Stephen went there for two weeks. It wasn't a big office. It was quite a small place, so Stephen was left on his own for quite a while, especially when Mr Timothy had to go out to meet clients, Stephen was left in charge to answer the phones and take messages and all sorts of things. I presume that in that space of time it was shown that he could have the responsibility of doing that sort of thing and he was given the chance. When Stephen came home he would talk about it a lot and show us the work that he had produced. I was very impressed with it, I remember, because I used to talk to my colleagues about it and I thought it looked very professional. One of the designs he did was used on a building in Deptford. It is easily recognisable from his drawings, the shape of the windows and everything Stephen did. This building is on Deptford Broadway. The architect who did the design for this, that Stephen was working for, copied Stephen's drawing; and you can see that. Stephen was very proud of this.

In 1993 Stephen was doing his A-levels in English Language and Literature at Woolwich College. That took up two days of his week; and he was at Blackheath Bluecoat doing A-level Designer Technology and re-sitting his GCE Physics, so he was studying, effectively, full-time. Stephen also worked at the Fun Junction which is a play centre where you take kids for an hour or so. He did that for a while on a part-time basis just at the weekends. The money he earned helped to support him for school, or whatever outside activities he wanted to do. When that closed down he went to work at the McDonald's in Old Kent Road; and he was doing that right up until he died, really.

Stephen always wanted to be an architect, as I have said. He had set this for his goat, and, hence, the A-level subjects that he chose reflected what he felt were necessary to do architecture. He was to go to college and then to university, but we hadn't got to the start of looking at what university he was going to.

Stephen was a healthy boy: he never had anything wrong with him. He had a slight touch of asthma when he was running, but nothing really major.

Stuart, Stephen's brother and Stephen got on well. Well, usually well until they fell out from time to time, as children do, especially when Georgina was little: having a baby sister was really something. When you look at the pictures of them when they were small, Stephen used to push Stuart out; Georgina was his baby sister. Stuart and Stephen got on because they shared a room. Parents really don't know half of what goes on between youngsters when they fall out. I am not sure exactly why they would fall out, but it wouldn't be for a long time. They had one fairly really long period, but that had started building up again just before Stephen had died.

As to music, Stephen mainly liked women singers, but he was also into Pop and Reggae and Hip-Hop.

From the time that I left school and I went to the NatWest Bank and worked there and had Stephen, I was doing temporary, part-time jobs. So I was working temporarily, or not for very long periods, while Stephen was growing up. I worked at Goldsmith's Bookshop; I was a care assistant; I did office cleaning and, up until 1981, those were the sort of jobs I did. I then started working in schools, because they fitted in well with the children's holidays. I was a Guide, where you take children from one school to another if they have special needs; and I did that up until 1982 when I had Georgina and stopped when she was about three. That would take me to 1985, because she was born in 1982.

I was then working at the school where Stuart and Stephen attended, Eglington Primary School as a lunchtime supervisor. I did that for about six months, and by 1986, I started working full-time as a "special needs helper" with the school, and stayed there for a couple of years. After that I went back into education.

I did an Access course because I didn't have any A-levels to go to university. I went back to university because, when I was working at the schools, I was doing a lot of work with the teachers. They encouraged me, told me that I was wasted there and that I had the ability to do a lot more, and asked me why I didn't. One of the teachers got the prospectus for me and told me what courses to attend. At this point we were living at Llanover Road, and that's where we were living when Stephen was killed.

The area we were living in was quite tense, but I think, because of the person I am, I didn't really take any notice. As long as it wasn't interfering with me or my children, there was nothing major happening.

I know that Stephen had incidents with other children around the area when playing. I can remember one time that a boy spat in his face, and how angry I was, and I challenged the mother over it. He was about nine and he used to ride his bike around the back of our house; and it was in this play area that the incident happened.

When we moved to Llanover Road we started going to the Methodist Church where Stephen was baptised and most of his childhood was spent. Stephen went to church regularly. He was part of the junior church and, in those days, there was a lot of activities for youngsters within the church which he took part in. He took his religion quite seriously. At one point he said that he wanted to be confirmed, but it is quite a big step and, at the time, I felt that he was too young and that he should wait a bit because it wasn't something that you should go into lightly. I wanted him to think about it.

As teenagers do, however, they grow out of the church because the church doesn't really have that much to offer them; and a lot of people who used to be youth leaders had left Trinity Church, so they lost that leadership that the church used to have. We used to go to church in Burrage Road on a weekly basis. Stuart and Georgina went as well. Children tend to go and continue up to about their early teens, but then by the time they are 14 or 15, that is when they start to trail off.

By 1993 I was at college doing my first degree in Humanities. In April 1993 I went on a field trip. I was a first year then, and that is something that you do on our course in the university. We had gone to Birmingham for two days. I left on the Tuesday morning and we travelled down and came back for the Thursday night. The last time I saw Stephen alive was on the Tuesday morning. I was leaving early because I had to be at Woolwich by 8.30am and he came down for breakfast. You just don't think about it at the time. If you knew that it was the last time you were going to see somebody, the things that you would say to them and all that. I told him I was going to be away for a couple of days, that I would ring him that night to tell him if there was a telephone number of anyway that he could get in contact with me and that was it. I just said that I would see him when I got back. I did the things that you usually do when you go out. You say where you are going, how long you are going to be away for and I will ring you. When I rang on the Tuesday night Stephen wasn't home yet, so I didn't speak to him. I arrived back in London on the Thursday night at about 9 o'clock. Neville picked me up and we went back to the house. Stuart was awake and Neville said that Stephen wasn't home yet and Georgina was asleep. It wasn't unusual that Stephen wasn't home. He had to be home between 10.00 and 10.30. I said that because I felt that, being at school and studying, it is quite a reasonable time; but then again, Stephen was 18, so even though we said that, if he didn't get home by then, there is not a lot you can do because of his age.

We had set that time a long time ago and it hadn't really changed over the years. We had been quite strict on being home on time in the beginning, but after the influence of Duwayne, it was different. Duwayne was allowed to come and go as he pleased, and it didn't really matter what time he got home.

I remember, Stephen was 14 when we first had this argument. It was 10.30 and then it was 10.00, because at times he wasn't coming in for 10.30, and the argument to me always was: "Duwayne doesn't have to be home", until whatever time it was, "so why do I have to be home, because it isn't really that late?" And I told him straight: "What Duwayne and his parents do is up to them, but you are our child, and I expect you to be in because you have school the next day." He found that Duwayne had the freedom to come and go as he wanted and, I suppose, that he wanted the same.

On the Thursday, I arrived home at about 9 o'clock. I got indoors and Stuart was awake, so I went up to see him. I talked to him about what he had been doing while I had been away. I went in to see Georgina who was asleep. I had a bath and we had something to eat. We sat and watched ITV news, because it was 10 o'clock, followed by the local news. At that time I was thinking: "I wish that Stephen would hurry up and come home, because I was really tired and I wanted to go to bed, and I didn't want to go to bed until I knew that he was home. I watched the news, and then the local news and, just as that finished, I remember getting up to go to the bathroom and the door knocked, and I thought: "Okay, Stephen is home." I could hear voices downstairs and I heard Stephen's name mentioned, so I went down.

As I got to the front door I couldn't see who was at the door, because I couldn't see past Neville who was in the way. I moved Neville aside and I saw the family from around the back, Joey Shepherd and his father and brother. He had come to tell us how Stephen had been attacked. He didn't know how seriously Stephen had been hurt. All he said was it was at the bus stop and the Welcome Inn pub. That is all he said. Then the father said to get some information perhaps it would be best to phone the police and see what they could tell us. They were at the door for just a short time. So I went inside and dialled 999, because I didn't know the local police station number. What they told me over the phone was, "It is news to us, we don't know of any sort of incident." I said to the operator that I had just been told that my son had been involved in an accident down the road and I wanted to know if they could tell me anything about it. I gave them the name of the road and the pub and all of that and they said it was news to them. They hadn't heard of any incident and they couldn't give me any information.

We decided to leave. I wasn't dressed, but I suppose just the thought of something having happened to Stephen, I just put on my overcoat and I went out. I remember Stuart coming downstairs. He brought my trainers and things for me and he had his coat on and he said he was coming too and I said he couldn't because Georgina would be in the house by herself so he had to stay and we left straight away. We stopped by the traffic lights at the top of Shooters Hill Road. Neville was driving and at that time of night there is hardly any traffic. We went over the lights, past the pub and the bus stop. The bus stop is further down there on the left hand side. We passed there. There is a road, I'm not sure of its name, but I think it is the first turning on the left after the bus stop. We got as far as there but we still couldn't see anything.

At that time we looked down the road and on Friday night just gone when I was driving down, I noticed that you can see all the way down to Well Hall roundabout. You can't see the roundabout itself but if there were blue lights flashing or anything happening you would be able to see it. We didn't notice anything. We couldn't see anything on the Thursday night. We went right as far as that road but we couldn't see anything. We turned around and I said to Neville, "They must have gone to the hospital" because Brook Hospital is not far away. I thought, "Well, that is where they will have gone". I don't remember if we physically looked down the road, but I think we probably would have done because it is straight in front of you and you would be able to see it. We saw no lights or anything.

We turned around and we just thought. "Well, probably they had gone to the hospital under their own steam. We didn't think anything serious had happened because we couldn't see any evidence of it. I thought that Stephen was hurt but I didn't think anything as serious as it was.

I know that for a long time beforehand I used to talk to Stephen about the dangers of being out and the dangers of the police as well because of stories that you hear that used to frighten me. The stories that you would hear would be about walking on the street on your own with your friends or whatever and the police would stop you and bundle you into the back of the van and beat up the kids. That is the story that would be going around, especially with black children.

I would tell Stephen that when he was walking down the road he should do so with the traffic going into the opposite direction so he could see when cars were coming and if there was any traffic and then there was more chance of getting away. That is the sort of thing I would tell him. I would also tell him if he was travelling on a train never ever sit in the carriage by himself and to sit in an open carriage. Stephen's attitude towards the police was always: "Well, if I'm not doing anything wrong how could they do that to me?" I used to say to him from what I am hearing you don't have to be doing anything. I didn't trust the police, I never have done and I certainly don't now. Stephen didn't have that mistrust, however, because as far as he was concerned if he wasn't doing anything wrong he had nothing to worry about. That was his attitude. He had never been in any sort of trouble. He had never been in any sort of trouble with the police. He had never been arrested or even spoken to the police. He never had any dealings with then at all. I don't think that Stephen would know what to do if he had because he had never had anything to do with them.

Because of how we lived as a family we got on with people. Our immediate next door neighbour were a white family and we got on with them very well. The children were the same age as my children. We lived in each other's houses and we had no problems.

By 1993 there had been three murders in our area. I wasn't aware of them all. I was aware, of course, of the Roland Adams one because Stephen knew Roland and that was a big thing for him. They were having a march or something and he wanted to be there. I was very worried for him because Thamesmead is an area you always hear about with racism connected to it, it is always happening down there. I remember saying to him: "I don't want you to go" because he would be a stranger to the area and a strange face and if anything happened they would pick him up quite easily. He had a strong conviction where that was concerned because it was his friend and he told me "no" and in fact he actually went. I felt really frightened that Roland had been killed for no reason but I presume at the same time you hear it, and until it happens to you it doesn't really sink in. The fear has always been there.

I have always been worried for Stephen. Always him more so, because Stephen was a very independent person and he liked going out. He went out with his friends up Central London and he knew a lot of places. I wouldn't say that he was exactly inquisitive, but he wanted to know what his surroundings were like.

Going back to that night we turned to go to Brook Hospital. We drove to the hospital. When we got there I won't swear that I noticed the police car there, perhaps I did, but I can't really remember. All that was on my mind was Stephen. Neville dropped me outside the ambulance entrance, Accident & Emergency Department. I remember walking - because the hospital is somewhere that I have been several times, it is a hospital that I know - I walked through the doors and I turned right.

Because the ambulance entrance is much further than the Casualty Department it is that bit further to walk. I turned right and I walked down to the Casualty place and I think there were just one or two people sitting there, nobody that I knew, because all I was looking for was Stephen. When I first came through the door I could see a black boy standing in front of me and I saw a police officer next to them standing there. I didn't recognise the black boy, but now I know it was Duwayne. At the time all I was looking for was Stephen, so I wouldn't have noticed. I would have passed anybody by. I didn't have to pass them to go to the Casualty Department, though, because they were further down. I walked down and I looked in the waiting area but I couldn't see Stephen.

I was turning around to go back through the front door again when Neville came walking in. I was going to tell Neville that Stephen was not there, I had decided in my mind that he was not there. I didn't see any medical people about, or anyone. All I was looking for was Stephen. I didn't go to the enquiries counter, I didn't even notice whether there was one or not.

When Neville walked in he recognised Duwayne straight away. He walked up to Duwayne and said something to him and it was then that I recognised him. I went over to Duwayne and asked him what happened and where Stephen was. At that point some people from the medical team came out. There was a man, someone in green, I think. The medical team came out with him. I'm not really certain, I think they came out of the examining rooms opposite where Duwayne was standing and walked over to Duwayne and I think the man in green asked what they hit him with. I'm not certain if the iron bar was mentioned by Duwayne, but I can remember hearing about an iron bar. That was what they asked him about.

I started asking them questions like: "Where is Stephen? Can we see him?" They said they were working on him. I must have asked three or four times if we could see him and they kept saying they were working on him. We were shown into a room, a family waiting room or something and I remember not sitting down. I was quite anxious and that was when I went off to phone my sister. In the room at the time it was just me and Neville. I don't think Duwayne came into the room at the point. I know eventually he came in but not at first.

Neville and I didn't speak to each other much. I said to them that I couldn't just sit there so I went and got some change to phone my sister. That was the only phone call I made. I told her that we were at the hospital and that Stephen had been attacked. I couldn't tell her anything because I didn't know anything and she said that she would come down. By the time I put the phone down and went back to the room Neville had gone to phone his cousin so I stayed in the room on my own.

When Neville came back I think Duwayne was shown in then. I remember when he sat down. I asked him what was happening and what was going on. He was very confused and didn't make any sense. He said that they had been coming from my brother's place and that it was not long after that, but I couldn't make any sense of anything else. Half the time he wasn't talking anyway. He was just extremely anxious. He couldn't sit still. He wasn't with a police officer in the room. The police didn't come into the room. the police officer that was near Duwayne as we came in was standing outside. He was a uniformed man, but I'm not sure of any of his features. I couldn't tell you if he was dark or blonde or anything but he was about the same height as Duwayne and of medium build.

Neville, Duwayne and I stayed in the room but we weren't there for very long. I think it was about 5 or 10 minutes, it didn't seem that long. At that stage I thought Stephen was seriously hurt, but not fatally. When I spoke to my sister all I could tell her was that Stephen had been attacked and we were at the hospital. I didn't know anything more. I didn't know how serious hurt he was because I hadn't seen him and nobody had told us anything about him, nobody had said what had happened to him. As for being stabbed, that's the last thing I expected. I never expected that.

We were waiting still in the family room and two people came in, one was a ginger haired woman. She was a staff nurse and I presume the doctor, was also a woman. They said that Stephen was dead. I looked at them as if to say: "How do you mean he's dead? He can't be dead." I don't remember what I did then. I can't remember whether I cried out or anything. That was it.

I was sitting at the time when we were told and asked if we could see him. I didn't believe that he was dead and I was saying: "No, he is not dead. He is not dead. He can't be." I don't remember how Neville reacted. I remember Duwayne because he was sitting next to me. He let out a cry. While we were sitting there the wall was next to us. There were three seats and they were flush to the wall. Duwayne was on the end by the door. Neville was in the corner. Duwayne was by the entrance and he was literally climbing the walls when he heard that Stephen had died. Nobody did anything to comfort him and not long after that the police took him away. I don't remember him going to see Stephen with us at all. We were told Stephen was dead and we asked to see him. The doctor said we had to wait because they were preparing him or something. By that time my sister had arrived with her husband. We told them that Stephen had died while we were in the family room. We all sat there for a while. A few other members of the family arrived. At the time I didn't know, but my sister had phoned my brother and nephew. I remember my brother turning up so there was myself, Neville, my sister, her husband and my brother. They were the only ones that were there when we went to see Stephen. There were no police officers.

The next thing I remember was us seeing Stephen. We were shown into the room where he was, the examination room, Neville, myself, my sister and her husband. The nurse took us in and I'm sure she had her arms round me and my sister was on the other side. I don't remember anyone else being in the room. When we got in we saw Stephen lying there. He looked as though he was just sleeping. He was covered from his neck downwards and I didn't move the covers. I just kissed him and more or less cuddled him. I remember the cut on his chin but I didn't take the cover off him. We stood there for a while and then went back into the family room and that's when the other family members arrived. After we had seen Stephen, my nephew came and his sister and both my brothers arrived at the same time. We were in the family room but there was nobody from Neville's side of the family there.

Even at this point it hadn't hit me what had happened. I was completely numb. I don't remember thinking anything. I suppose eventually what came to me was the fact that Stuart and Georgina were at home. Neville drove us home, just the two of us in the car. My sister couldn't follow because they had left their children on their own. We got home by about midnight because I remember checking the time. It was either midnight or just before. Stuart was still awake and I told him. I told him that Stephen had died, what else can you say? Stuart just cried and cried. Georgina was asleep and I suppose it was at that stage that I took the decision not to wake her.

That night Neville's cousin arrived with her husband at the house. I'm not sure what time it was but Duwayne's mother also came to the house with a friend who I don't know but I had seen around. Neville opened the door because I was frightened of ever opening the door again. They came upstairs into the living room and she said that she had been to see Duwayne at the police station and the only thing that stuck in my mind was that she said she was glad it wasn't Duwayne and that was it.

The other person who was with her said that she had a son and that Stephen knew her son. She knew us but she wasn't someone I had much contact with. I don't know why Duwayne's mum came around. She would have had our address from a friend. I presume she came around in sympathy but at the time it didn't come across as that.

Eventually, I went to bed. I didn't sleep. I just lay there. I couldn't sleep. Nothing else happened that night.

The next morning when Georgina woke up Neville was on the phone. I'm not sure who he was talking to but various people, telling them what had happened to Stephen because I didn't want to speak to anyone. Georgina woke up as usual, I didn't want to wake her. She could hear voices talking and she came into the living room and looked at me and said: "Mum, what's wrong?" She could hear Neville downstairs talking and she went down. She probably heard the conversation over the phone, she just went mad. She started screaming and screaming and ran up the stairs to me. I held her and she kept repeating: "It is not true. It is not true. Where is Stephen?" So I told her. It was really strange behaviour. It was as if she had taken it in but not really taken it in. This was about 7 o'clock in the morning.

Georgina had an alarm in her room so she would wake up with the boys getting up in the morning. The routine was that Stephen would be up first: he went in the bathroom first, followed by Stuart and because she was the youngest and because her school was local and she didn't have to be up until much later, her routine was always that she was the last one in the bathroom. Georgina and Stuart then went off to School. I told them about staying at home but they said they weren't staying at home. I phoned a friend of mine to tell her what had happened and she phoned some friends and by 8 o'clock they came to the house. In fact three of them arrived. They arrived and Georgina and Stuart were saying they wanted to go to school and I was trying to persuade them not to go. They said they wanted to go so my friends said they would walk them to school and let the school know what had happened. One friend with Stuart and the other two went with Georgina. Georgina was due to go off on a school trip for a week on the Monday but, of course, I didn't want to let her out of my sight so I just said: "You are not going", and she said "I want to go". At this time we let the school know what was happening and they said they would keep an eye on her and if she wanted to come home at any point they would bring her home. She was only 10 at this time and Stuart had just had his 16th birthday.

"The rest of the Friday people started coming to the house. After 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock the police came. I don't know who from the police arrived but somebody did. We didn't inform anybody that we didn't want to be disturbed by the police on the Thursday night and no police officers spoke to us on the Thursday night. The first contact we had with the police or knew of the police officers' involvement was the Friday morning after about 9 am. I would never had said that I didn't want to be contacted by the police. Something like that of course you want to know what happened, and you want to know straight away what would happen. I wanted to know. If the police had arrived in the middle of the night to speak to us we would have been happy to speak to them. We would never have turned anybody away. No officer spoke to us at the hospital. I didn't see any as we left the hospital.

On the Friday whoever opened the door told us the police were there. I don't remember speaking to them on the Friday morning. I can't remember what was said. I know that they came in the morning because it sticks in my mind but I don't know any of the conversation.

I remember Palma Black from the ARA being at our place. She was introduced to us but how she got to our place I don't know. Nobody from our family would have contacted her. I understand that Ros Howells was contacted, I presume by the police or hospital because she is a member of the Greenwich Race Unit. She may have contacted ARA, although not directly. I think she would have spoken to Vicki Morse, who is a counsellor in Greenwich, and I understand now that Vicki Morse is an ARA member. I didn't speak to Palma Black directly when she was at our house. I was just aware she was there. I had no real feelings towards her being there or not.

On the Friday I was still not aware of how Stephen had been attacked and murdered. All I knew is that he had been stabbed. I would have thought I was informed by the hospital. I was not told that he was stabbed as far as I can recall but that was my understanding.

By the Friday I knew that the murder had been racist, I think that had come from Duwayne's mother but I am not sure how I knew that. At the time I didn't think about it. Neville was going to a press conference. I think when the officers came to the house in the morning, it was because they wanted a press conference to be held, and he was the one doing it because I didn't feel that I could do anything like that, so he was the one who went along. I saw the press conference on the television. I can't remember much more about the Friday except that there were a lot of people in the house. Most of them friends and relatives.

On the Saturday I remember we got up and we were going to see Stephen. I think that was arranged on the Friday, probably because we asked to see him when the police came. I don't remember being told that it wasn't possible. I don't remember being told that. On the Saturday I remember a woman officer, not in uniform, a Linda Holden came, she was one of the liaison officers. I remember her coming to the house and we travelled in the car with her, both Neville and myself and a friend. I remember that also part of the group were my sister and her husband and some other members of the family came along. We travelled with DC Holden and I found out that the driver was an off-duty policeman, the driver who had stopped Duwayne on the night of Stephen's death.

We drove down to Greenwich mortuary, which is off the Greenwich High Road. We were in a room with quite a few glass panels. We were on the opposite side of the glass panel and we could see through that as they brought his body in. They brought him to the window and I must have asked because I wanted to touch them. At first the Coroner's office or the police said no we couldn't. I think I wanted to see the wounds and everything because someone else had told us that they had arrived later at the hospital and they had been in to see them and that he had pin pricks on his arm. I didn't know what this was suggesting - all over his arm - but this concerned me because I wanted to know what had been done to him. I didn't tell them why I wanted to see them but eventually they allowed only Neville and myself in. Neville asked then if his friend could come in because we wanted things explained to us and his friend knew about medical things, he had worked in hospitals and we trusted him. We wanted them to tell us and hoped he could explain what these pin pricks were because we didn't trust anyone else to tell us the truth.

We were allowed to go behind the glass panel and saw Stephen who was on a trolley covered. I took the covers off to look at him. By then they had carried out a post-mortem on him because you would see the wounds going right down the middle of his chest. That's when I noticed the stab wounds. I checked for little pin pricks. There were loads of marks on his arm but Neville's friend wasn't sure what they were. It may have been treatment he had at the hospital and if it was maybe they did quite a few and they couldn't find a vein. We never really found out what it was. As well as that, we wanted to see the head wounds. He had a bruise on his face to one side of his cheek, probably from when he fell. I think we were there for about 40-45 minutes.

Then we went and drove via the spot where he died; not where he was stabbed but where he died. I don't remember if we asked for that, or if the police officers suggested it, but we went via that way. We were told that he died by a spot near the tree, and we were pointed up from there to where he was attacked at the junction of Dickson Road. At that point I couldn't believe that he had managed to run so far with the wounds that he had.

The Saturday is the first recollection that I have of DC Holden. I don't think it was every made clear what her role was. Later it became clear that she was supposed to be there in a supporting role. We saw her several times on the Saturday, but as far as I'm concerned, once they had left the house, they didn't come back. They dropped us off and I could swear they didn't come back to the house. I remember it wasn't long, and Palma was at the house. If she was there when we left, I'm not sure. She was just sitting there with, I think, a Carl Booth from the ARA, but I'm not certain if he had been there in the morning. Members of our family and friends were taking all the phone calls. I didn't take any calls. We had a book, but I cannot remember when that came in. It was my friend's idea to make a note of everybody who called, because she must have noticed how many calls we were getting, and inquiries. We just wanted to keep a record of people who were calling, as well as people knocking on the door; not members of the family, but people who we didn't know, who were coming.

On Saturday the Anti-Nazi League came to the house and the Black Panthers; the ANL arrived with some money that they had collected. I think I met them directly. I thought it was a surprise that they had gone out to collect money because they had heard that Stephen had died, and they were out there and, I presume, in the area of Eltham. I thought it was really strange that people that we didn't even know were giving us money. When the Black Panthers came I found it really frightening. They were dressed in hoods with dark glasses. I think I opened the door when they knocked and was shocked seeing these people from wherever and I think I went inside and sent Neville to the door to talk to them. While Neville was at the door talking to them Palma said to me that we did not want to get involved with them as they are dangerous. They had attacked her in the car park, which frightened me even more. I couldn't really understand why they had come. Palma Black was there every day.

On the Saturday my mother came down, which was also a traumatic thing, having to explain to her about her grandson.

On the Sunday we went to church in the morning. The people at the church knew what had happened because on Friday members of the church had come to see us. The news must have spread quite quickly and quite wide. I felt that I needed to go to church. They say that in times of trouble you turn to whatever you feel comfortable with, and I felt comfortable and I wanted to go, so we all as a family went. Neville, who doesn't often go to church, also came. My mother also came with Stuart and Georgina. When we came back from church, I remember a lot of people were around and hardly anywhere could I be on my own. There just wasn't any room. I remember David Cruise. He used to be the Minister of Trinity Church and he had known Stephen since he was six or seven. I spoke to him on the Sunday because somebody from the church would have contacted him. We went to the boys' bedroom to talk, because at the time every other room in the house was occupied. I remember the police being there, and I think we spoke to them in our bedroom. I remember a letter arrived and David read a letter from the Taffes, who were the couple who were at the scene when Stephen collapsed. He read the letter to us. It was really comforting, I felt, to know that somebody was with him because I think my question was, and still is: did he know that he was dying? And who did he ask for? And how was he? And was he frightened? Those are all the things that I want to know. In some ways the letter had said that he was calm and at peace, so it was reassuring to some degree to know that he hadn't been frightened.

Nothing else stands out in particular of that Sunday. I do remember a man, who was supposed to have been some security man, came. He was frightening as well. He was part of the ARA people with Palma and Marc Wadsworth.

My relationship with Palma and Marc was that I didn't know them or anything about them. They were trying to reassure me that they were there to support. I remember seeing Palma forever using the phone, and I pointed out to her it was our phone bill. She said not to worry about anything; that they would help us through everything.

On the Monday morning Georgina went off for a week, and I think my sister went with her to the school trip and Stuart went to school. From then on someone always went with them to school, even Stuart. Carl Booth would walk Stuart to school because it is walking distance. Practical support was being provided by the ARA. Nothing further stands out about the Monday.

On Tuesday, I can't remember anything specific. I remember that in between all the times, the police were there on a regular basis, more or less every day. They would have been Holden and Bevan. They never actually told us what their role was. We were never given any up-to-date stuff; we didn't know what was happening with the investigation or even if there was one. The only think I could gather from them being there was that they wanted information: they wanted information about Stephen. They used to ask us about his friends and whether he was in a gang. They asked us about gloves that they found and a cap that was in his bag or something. All that was coming across all the time was: "Who are the people in your house; and what are their names; and what are they to do with Stephen?" We were never given any information. We were never told that they were there and that we could go to them if we wanted to know about the investigation. Linda Holden left her mobile number with Neville.

I remember that Imran Khan was representing our interests. I was first aware of this on the Sunday. I didn't think it was unusual. Mind you, it is difficult to say what is unusual or usual; you don't really know what the norm is; you don't know what procedures are to follow. But I was just really glad that there was somebody there who could find out on our behalf what was going on. We were just not being given any information. The police did not come to us and say: "Your son has died. This is how he died. This is what happened. This is how it happened." We don't know the full story about how he died and we weren't being told that his death was being investigated. At least I was never told that.

The first time we started to get an idea that information was coming to the house, surrounding names and details of the murder, was during the first week. I can't remember the exact day. I haven't actually spoken to anyone directly regarding this. It was through somebody. I understood that people were saying that they knew who had committed the murder, and that they had information and that they felt that they needed to come and tell us. This information was all kept in the book. I don't know when the book started, but it was from the time when people started telephoning to give information; calls came in and we kept a note of the messages. As far as I can remember, information being passed to the house was passed to Imran Khan, who in turn passed it on to the police. As days went by we were never made aware of anything that was happening. That was the most frustrating thing. We asked the officers that come to the house, and we found that at one point, a week or so later, Bevan said to us, in a very sarcastic way, that we should go to the incident room and see how hard they were working on the case. I said I didn't want to hear that; I didn't want to see the Incident Room; that wasn't going to tell me anything: I just wanted to know exactly what was going on: who had been caught; had anybody been caught; had any suspects been arrested? They must have an idea of who they were, because I was getting all of this information that the boys were known to the police. This information was coming to my house that these boys were well known in the area; that the police knew they had knives; that they always clean the knives in the front room; and that police have seen them; and that this was something that the police were aware of. I felt that the police were not doing anything and they were too busy investigating Stephen.

Eventually, we heard a rumour that the police were at Duwayne's place all the time as well, questioning him and anybody who visited him because he was living on his own. They wanted to know who the visitors were, and all their names, and why they had come, and all of that sort of thing. During that week I didn't have any contact with Duwayne. I heard rumours that he was on his own and I was worried about him because of that. I remember somebody saying that they knew him or his mother well; and I suggested that that person talk to his mother to take him away. I felt that the police were having too much access to him and he had nobody to support him. They would must turn up at his place and I didn't think it was right. He had been through such a lot. He was on his own and he needed adult support. My concern was that he was really vulnerable.

I remember going to a press conference at Woolwich Town Hall, arranged by Marc Wadsworth from the ARA. I think this was before Georgina's birthday on the 30th April. Holden came to the house on the afternoon of that day, which was the time that she usually came. I can't remember what the discussion was about, but we were asked as parents to send a letter to Georgina to keep in contact while she was away. It suddenly dawned on me that it was her birthday. Usually presents and cards are bought in advance, so I must have bought her card but not a present when Stephen died; and I remember saying that I hadn't got to post her birthday card as I had wished and, even though she was returning on that day, I wanted to do that. Linda Holden offered to take it down for me and post it. That surprised me because that was the last thing I expected. I thought it was good of her. I read somewhere that I didn't thank her for that. To me this is out of character, and there is no way I would have been so rude and arrogant about the whole thing, and at this time I still trusted her.

The first time I went out after Stephen's death was on the 30th April. I went to the shops in Woolwich. There is a car park above the Sainsbury's and that was the first time I drove and went out. I went out with my sisters, my two sisters and my cousin. The four of us travelled in the car. We drove into Woolwich. I looked for somewhere to park, and I was going up to the next level and I could see a space but you needed to get round and round to get up to it. As I drove up and on to the next level, there was a woman and her daughter pushing a trolley, and I saw them and I stopped. They stopped. I thought they would move on. They started to move. We went back and forwards, and I suddenly said: "What are you doing?" I said: "What are you doing", in the car to myself so she wouldn't have heard it, but I think she saw my gesture which was. I remember she made a remark. I can't remember what it was, but it was definitely racist and everybody in the car just got angry because of what had happened to Stephen. They were saying: "Let us out", and was trying to park the car. All three of them were asking to be let out to challenge her. I went down to the parked car and they got out and they ran down to her. I was not in earshot of any of the stuff and I didn't see any of the things that went on, but I was told later that my sister had said to her: "It was one of you bastards that killed my nephew", and her reply was: "If he hadn't been here, he would still be alive", meaning if he wasn't in this country, he would still be alive. What do you say? What could you say? Before they approached her the white woman had got a brick. She had got a brick from the boot of her car. She was holding the brick and it was like: "If you come anywhere near me, this is what you will get." All they could do was take the woman's registration, which they did. They came back and told me about it, and they told Imran Khan the details and he reported it to the police. My sister and me and the others made statements on that night, or a few days later, but as far as I know nothing had happened with this incident. Weeks later we were told at Greenwich Race Office, where there was a meeting with the police, some sort of community meeting - I think it was Philpot who told us that no action would be taken, because we had to understand that at this time the white woman had had a bereavement. So that was the end of it.

By the end of the first week there was disappointment with the liaison officers. Their attitude when they came to the house was just checking up to see who was there, anyone who was of interest because they were more concerned with the people in the house than they were with us. They would see us and in fact I have read, that they claimed they could not get any access to us. It is complete rubbish. Whenever they came down they would see us. They were shown into the living room and it was just us in the living room with nobody else. There were no organisations. We would make room to see them. My sister may have been there, but certainly no organisations. Each time they came they were shown up to wherever we were and they would ask questions about Stephen. The problem with liaison officers is that they were only interested in the people who were in the house. The people in our house were all black. The people who killed my son were white. Why should they be interested in the people who were in the house? It has been suggested that they were looking to build up a picture of Stephen, but that is not what I would say. What I would say is they were gathering information of interest about the people in the house, and that as black people in the house, there must have been something criminal or whatever. If they were trying to build up a picture of Stephen, it was simply to see if he was in any sort of mischief. They never asked us any questions about Stephen, about him as a young child. There was nothing genuine that they asked. There was none of that.

Their attitude towards the family as a whole was patronising. Once incident sticks out in my mind, which was with Bevan. He was in the living room one day, and I think I must have been in my usual mode of asking: "What is happening? What is going on?", and how we have not been given any information and: "Has anybody been caught?" He started going on again about how hard they were working and he didn't know if we would understand, that the procedure is not what we think it is: they have to ask questions and do this and that. We said that we had been passing on information and we wanted to know what was being done about that information. We were told to speak to someone else as they couldn't give us that information. The whole thing, how they were talking: I don't know, I can't say that, if it was a black police officer, it would have been better. I mean, how many black police officers do you know anyway? How many black police officers do you see within the force? So I don't know who they would use for a family like ours. Perhaps it would have been different. That is something that we will never know. I do think, though, that the liaison officers did not understand us. I would say that they came with a preconceived idea of what black families are like, so they had that notion in their heads to start off with. They came with the idea that we wouldn't ask questions and that we would just accept what we were told; and the fact that we were asking questions and that we wanted to know everything, is something they didn't anticipate would happen.

We welcome your comments on this site. Prepared 24 February 1999