20 INTERVIEW
DR NEVILLE GEORGE L AW R E N C E , O B E By Shirin Aguiar
D
r Neville George Lawrence, OBE, is best known as the proud father of murdered teenager, Stephen Lawrence. His and Baroness Lawrence’s tireless campaigning for their son’s killers to be brought to justice eventually resulted in two of Stephen’s killers being convicted of his murder -18 years after the crime, through a change in the double jeopardy laws, which the couple helped bring about. Crucially, the 1997 Macpherson judicial inquiry into the police investigation into Stephen’s death led to an overhaul of Britain’s race relations legislation, which created the strongest anti-discrimination powers in Western Europe – all thanks to more than five years of campaigning by Neville and Doreen Lawrence after their son’s death. The rest is history.
Although still working behind the scenes, Dr Lawrence has been mostly content to stay out of the limelight, but he came under the media spotlight again last month, when the BBC commemorated the 25th anniversary of the murder with the broadcast of the documentary, Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation. Dr Lawrence, along with Baroness Lawrence, family, friends, neighbours, the police and other key players, such as the CPS, lawyers and campaigners, featured in the gripping three-hour-long programme, which was broadcast in three episodes. Keep The Faith was keen to obtain Dr Lawrence’s perspective on the documentary, and also to find out about his personal faith journey leading up to his astonishing announcement last year that he had forgiven his son’s killers. The turning point came after he decided to forgive. When he did so, he said “a load came off my shoulder.” Find us on Twitter and Facebook: @KeepTheFaithmag
Photo credit: Jen Jenny B Marquis-Brown
