Macpherson Report NOW ONLINE

Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993. He was just 18 years old. At first, despite the arrest of six suspects, no charges were brought. The thought entered that race hatred not only motivated the attackers, but also affected the behaviour of the Metropolitan Police.

Stephen Lawrence

In 1998, a public inquiry chaired by Sir William Macpherson concluded not only that the initial investigation was incompetent, but also that the Met was institutionally racist. The resulting Macpherson Report has been hailed as “one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain”. But much of its contents have lain inaccessible - until now.

Following the success of Discover Leveson, a searchable free online resource giving access to much of the material from the eponymous inquiry into the “culture, practices and ethics of the press”, Professor Brian Cathcart and his team have worked to create a partner resource for the Macpherson Report. His reasoning for this is straightforward.

“I have felt for years that it was wrong that, while the Lawrence case and the inquiry were continually in the news and while race and policing remained so controversial, so many of these hugely valuable records were more or less inaccessible … Until now a lot of these have only been available in hard copy at the National Archives at Kew”. Now they are available to everyone.

Sir William Macpherson

Because Discover Macpherson is now online HERE. Also, it has a Twitter feed (or should that be an X feed?), called @DiscMacpherson. The site is not yet complete; there were some records at Kew that the team did not have the resource to digitise. If you know anyone who could assist, please point them at the site’s email address, which is discovermacpherson AT gmail DOT com.

Our free and fearless press, and especially the Mail titles, like to tell the world how knowledgeable they are on the Stephen Lawrence case. Now, you can find out for yourself just how knowledgeable they really are, while becoming more knowledgeable about it yourself. The Met is in the news once more: this resource gives a flavour of their lamentable past performance.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Brian Cathcart is a personal friend. And a good bloke.

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