Four former detectives who oversaw the initial investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence will not be charged, a review has concluded.
Mr Lawrence, 18, was murdered by a gang of racist attackers in southeast London as he ran to catch a bus with his friend, Duwayne Brooks, in April 1993.
The initial investigation failed to bring anyone to justice. Two of his killers - Gary Dobson and David Norris - were later jailed in 2012 for murder.
Last year, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) considered whether or not to charge four former Metropolitan Police detectives with misconduct over the failings of the investigation.
In July last year, it announced the three former superintendents and one former detective inspector would not face prosecution.
That decision was challenged by Mr Lawrence's parents, under the Victims' Right to Review (VRR) scheme.
But a fresh review, carried out by a prosecutor who was independent of the original review, has now upheld that decision, which found insufficient evidence for a realistic prospect of conviction.
Rosemary Ainslie, head of the CPS's Special Crime Division, said: "Following our decision in July 2023 not to bring criminal charges against four police officers involved in the initial six weeks of the investigation into Stephen's murder, we received a request to review the decision under the Victims' Right to Review (VRR) scheme.
"An extensive review of that decision, which involved an independent prosecutor re-examining a substantial amount of evidence and material in the case, has now been completed.
"Offences of misconduct in public office were reconsidered, but the review upheld the original decision not to bring any criminal charges against the four officers in the case.
"We understand this news will be extremely disappointing for Stephen's family and friends, and the CPS has offered to meet with close family members to explain our reasoning in further detail."
It represents a final decision by the CPS.
'Unjustifiable'
Mr Lawrence's mother, Baroness Doreen Lawrence, said the decision not to prosecute the officers was "a new low" in the way her family has been treated by the criminal justice system.
"The decision of the Crown Prosecution Service not to prosecute the senior officers who were involved in the investigation of my son's case is unjustifiable," she said.
"The reviewed decision, issued today, makes not a single mention of racism.
"Everyone now accepts that institutional racism was at the heart of the first investigation and yet, no consideration has been given to how it impacted the decision-making process. It clearly did."
Responding to the decision in a post on the X social media platform, Mr Brooks said: "As someone affected by these senior officers' decision-making skills, I have no idea whether today's decision or the original decision by the CPS is a credible one, as I have not seen the report."
'Fundamental errors'
The head of the Met has previously said the investigation into the 1993 killing may never progress because the original inquiry did "such a bad job".
Sir Mark Rowley admitted errors made by detectives caused irreparable damage.
On the 30th anniversary of the murder in April last year, Sir Mark said the force did not "did not dig deep enough" to confront racism.
In 1999, the damning Macpherson report on the murder and its aftermath found the Met was institutionally racist.
Be the first to get Breaking News Install the Sky News app for freeIn its conclusion, the report stated there was "no doubt there were fundamental errors" in the investigation.
"The investigation was marred by a combination of professional incompetence, institutional racism, and a failure of leadership by senior officers," it added.
"A flawed MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] review failed to expose these inadequacies.
"The second investigation could not salvage the faults of the first investigation."
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Surveillance was "ill-planned" and records and notes were "not made or retained".
The report also highlights a "lack of direction and organisation" during the "vital first hours after the murder".
"Almost total lack of proper documentation makes reconstruction of what happened during those hours difficult," the report stated.
"But lack of imagination and properly co-ordinated action and planning which might have led to the discovery and arrest of suspects was conspicuous by its absence."
No officers early on the scene took "any proper steps at once" to pursue the suspects, it added.
There were "large numbers of police officers available", but "inadequate measures were taken" to use them properly.
"This was due to failure of direction by senior officers, many of whom attended the scene, who seem simply to have accepted that everything was being done satisfactorily by somebody else," the report stated.
