Met closure of Stephen Lawrence case will deny his family justice

Convicting all the suspects would also have offered the police a measure of redemption

Convicting all of the suspects in the racist gang of five or six people that killed Stephen Lawrence would have delivered justice for his family, and some measure of redemption for the Metropolitan police. Scotland Yard's decision to close the case means neither will get what they longed for.

For Doreen and Neville Lawrence the loss of their first child, Stephen, was a personal catastrophe that over the years turned into a symbolic case for the nation, and remains so.