It has come to light that Paedophile Matthew White accused of killing Stephen Lawrence told the Metropolitan Police he had a “girlfriend,” a schoolgirl, and the Met neglected to investigate.
In 2000, Matthew White was questioned as a suspect in the racist murder of 18-year-old Stephen, who had been stabbed to death while awaiting a bus in Eltham, southeast London.
A transcript of the interview shows White told officers he was “going out” with a “young” girlfriend and claimed he was “five or six years older” than her.
The BBC claims, however, that Matthew White had been a decade older than the child; he had hooked her on heroin after sexually mistreating her when she was below the age of consent.
The Met knew the girl’s age but did not probe Matthew White further or challenge his relationship.
A lawyer representing Stephen’s mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, Imran Khan KC, claimed the disclosure reveals the Met “cannot be trusted” on upcoming case enquiries.
“She believes nothing that [the Met police] state,” he continued.
The child herself told the BBC she is “absolutely disgusted” by the police inactivity and “can’t get over the fact that they would just cover that”.
After startling shortcomings in the first inquiry into the 1993 murder, two of Stephen’s killers have been brought to jail, but three other significant suspects remain free.
Matthew White, who passed away in 2021, had been regarded as a witness rather than an entire suspect until seven years after the crime.
Four years before the murder, he received a conviction for carrying a machete on an Eltham street close to Stephen’s murder site.
Amid calls from Baroness Lawrence for an independent inquiry headed by the retired detective who brought two of Stephen’s killers to justice, Scotland Yard is now negotiating with Stephen’s parents and friend, Duwayne Brooks, over the extent of a planned review of the murder investigation.
The Met Police has admitted that Matthew White was arrested twice on suspicion of murder but advised there was insufficient evidence to charge him. The Met has apologised for its conduct of the murder inquiry.
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