Prime Minister Theresa May has announced that a national day of commemoration for murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence will take place on April 22 every year. The announcement came as the family of the black teenager attended the 25th anniversary memorial of his demise in London. May said the victim's mother Doreen Lawrence, now a peer in the Lords, and father Neville “have fought heroically to ensure their son's life and death will never be forgotten.”
Stephen was set upon by a gang, stabbed, and left to die in Eltham on April 22, 1993. Two of the group of up to six men who attacked him and his friend Duwayne Brooks have been convicted of murder, the others however, walk free. Both David Norris and Gary Dobson serve life sentences. The Macpherson Report into his death found that there had been “institutional racism” in the police. “It is right that Stephen's name and legacy lives on. I feel honoured she has recognised the changes that have been made in Stephen's name and the changes that are still needed,” Baroness Lawrence said. She added that she looks forward to deliver the first Stephen Lawrence Day in 2019, alongside the government. The anniversary memorial service at St-Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, was attended royal couple Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
