- Paperback: 448 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (27 April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140279059
- ISBN-13: 978-0140279054
- Product Dimensions: 19.4 x 12.8 x 3.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 73,250 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
The Case of Stephen Lawrence
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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence, the son of Jamaican immigrants, was murdered on the night of 22 April 1993 whilst standing at a bus-stop, by a gang of white youths. Cathcart wrote a long piece about the murder and all its ramifications for "Granta" magazine, and this is the basis for his book: an account of the crime, the investigation and the criminal culture of South-East London that gave rise to the murderers.
From the Author
A tragic story that needed to be told.
I wrote this book partly to tell the tragic, powerful and moving story of a race murder and of how a black London family, let down by the system, eventually forced the whole country to sit up and take notice. I also wrote it in the hope of informing the very important debate that has followed about race, policing and society in Britain. The Lawrence story is long and complex and the crime remains on the unsolved list, but despite all the controversy people still know little of what happened. I hope the book will help to fill the information gap. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
I wrote this book partly to tell the tragic, powerful and moving story of a race murder and of how a black London family, let down by the system, eventually forced the whole country to sit up and take notice. I also wrote it in the hope of informing the very important debate that has followed about race, policing and society in Britain. The Lawrence story is long and complex and the crime remains on the unsolved list, but despite all the controversy people still know little of what happened. I hope the book will help to fill the information gap. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I am a serving police officer and came to this book with mixed feelings. I expected to see the Met Police lambasted as racists who failed this black youth and his family. I saw a Force where incompetence from the start to finish not only failed the Lawrences and minority ethnics, but the whole of British society. Cathcart rightly exposes the failings of the murder investigation, but no-one escapes from criticsm. It is a very fair book, very readable but deeply worrying. Somewhere, a group of murderers is walking free.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book clearly, and methodically describes the events surrounding Stephen Lawrence's murder and all subsequent issues up to the McPherson inquiry. It presents the facts as far as is possible, without any particular bias. Given that I was born and grew up in the area where Stephen lived and was murdered, I was left with a deep sense of shame, that such a crime could go unpunished.
This book provides an opportunity for everyone to familiarise themselves with the story and to recognise that we are all responsible for ensuring that such events never occur again.
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Crime books are a genre that I don't often read, but having been recommended and lent a copy of "The Case of Stephen Lawrence" by Brian Cathcart, and moreover having any fears of it being of a sensational nature assuaged by the back cover praise (including the redoubtable Tariq Ali), I started reading.
The gratuitous and brutal murder of Stephen Lawrence received a good deal of media coverage during the 1990's not least because of Doreen and Neville Lawrence's tenacity in the face of a murder investigation that never delivered convictions for the five murderers, and the extraordinary Public Inquiry that ensued. Despite that coverage, which I followed at the time, I quickly found myself thinking that I didn't know the half of it, and that there is no substitute for a well written, and comprehensive account. Brian Cathcart delivers that with some skill.
The book is excellent on narrating the events of the murder, the context within which it happened and the background of all those involved without being prurient in any way. The police "investigation" is delineated as it happens, and at first I had the impression that the Lawrence's were, quite understandably, over-reacting at the lack of a result. By the time I had finished the coverage of the eventual Public Inquiry they had my complete and utter sympathy, and for the Police a strong feeling of contempt. Their liaison with the Lawrence's was truly lamentable. The investigation was lackadaisical, minimally incompetent and possibly de-railed by corrupt Police officers who appeaer to have had links with a career criminal who was also one of the murderers fathers. During the Inquiry the performance they give under questioning by lawyers for the family is idiotic and evasive. That anyone could be in any doubt of the ignorance and prejudice of the Metropolitan Police on the issue of race after hearing the officers respond to questioning during the inquiry is beyond me. One wonders what the quality of their discourse on that matter is when not in the public spotlight?
Cathcart's valuable and comprehensive account of the Lawrence's agonising experience is an exemplary piece of investigative reporting. Justice certainly can't be done to it in this short review, only reading it can. One will also get an insight into the Britain of that time; no doubt a good deal of it is unfortunately all too relevant still. Well recommended.
The gratuitous and brutal murder of Stephen Lawrence received a good deal of media coverage during the 1990's not least because of Doreen and Neville Lawrence's tenacity in the face of a murder investigation that never delivered convictions for the five murderers, and the extraordinary Public Inquiry that ensued. Despite that coverage, which I followed at the time, I quickly found myself thinking that I didn't know the half of it, and that there is no substitute for a well written, and comprehensive account. Brian Cathcart delivers that with some skill.
The book is excellent on narrating the events of the murder, the context within which it happened and the background of all those involved without being prurient in any way. The police "investigation" is delineated as it happens, and at first I had the impression that the Lawrence's were, quite understandably, over-reacting at the lack of a result. By the time I had finished the coverage of the eventual Public Inquiry they had my complete and utter sympathy, and for the Police a strong feeling of contempt. Their liaison with the Lawrence's was truly lamentable. The investigation was lackadaisical, minimally incompetent and possibly de-railed by corrupt Police officers who appeaer to have had links with a career criminal who was also one of the murderers fathers. During the Inquiry the performance they give under questioning by lawyers for the family is idiotic and evasive. That anyone could be in any doubt of the ignorance and prejudice of the Metropolitan Police on the issue of race after hearing the officers respond to questioning during the inquiry is beyond me. One wonders what the quality of their discourse on that matter is when not in the public spotlight?
Cathcart's valuable and comprehensive account of the Lawrence's agonising experience is an exemplary piece of investigative reporting. Justice certainly can't be done to it in this short review, only reading it can. One will also get an insight into the Britain of that time; no doubt a good deal of it is unfortunately all too relevant still. Well recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Cashing in on someone else's pain
This book is a nonsense.
It takes the tragic story of the murder of a young man just setting out in the world as an adult and seeks to shamelessly make political capital out... Read more
It takes the tragic story of the murder of a young man just setting out in the world as an adult and seeks to shamelessly make political capital out... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Colin Bell
Parable Of The Good Samaritan?
I still find it difficult to believe that nobody at the scene checked Stephen's wounds. Any wannabe medic would be ripping clothes off to get a better look and staunch the flow of... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Saucy Jack
Everyone should read this book
I literally couldn't put this book down. It reads like a modern day crime thriller but the tragedy is that it really happened. Read more
Published on 30 Oct 2003 by Sue Bryan
a very good read
This book is one that all public sector worker should read. I have now read it twice and have changed the way in which I now work and think. Read more
Published on 14 Jan 2001
A stunning achievement
Taking such a complex and tragic story and producing such a well-balanced and readable treatise is a remarkable feat. Read more
Published on 7 Jun 1999
A thought provoking ,attention holding, unbelievable read.
From the opening page I was hooked.It's hard to imagine how the system could get it so wrong.As I read the details of how this young life had been taken in such a violent and... Read more
Published on 22 May 1999
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