Simon Israel has been following the story throughout the inquiry and reports on Sir William Macpherson's findings. At 3.30 this afternoon at the Home Office, the scale of such a damning indictment of policing was at last available for everyone to see, and so to understand the Lawrences' deep sense of injustice. Their attitude tells me it was racism.
Police have a preconceived attitude about what black people are like.
The report makes plain the destructive effects of unwitting racist attitudes among at least half a dozen officers from Constable to Superintendent. None of the policemen at the hospital spoke to us. When we got to the door nobody stopped us to ask who we were, if we were the parents of Stephen or what. No policeman stopped and said anything to us. The report expresses astonishment at the lack of direction and organisation during the crucial first hours.