Stephen Lawrence was murdered in Eltham on 22 April 1993. He was 18 years old. The Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, has released a statement on the 30th anniversary of his death.

Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said: “Thirty years on from Stephen’s murder, we offer our sympathies to the Lawrence family on their unimaginable loss. He was a dearly loved son and brother who was taken from them far too soon and in such senseless circumstances.

“Their dignified fight for justice, conducted in the pressure of the public eye with unwavering determination over so many years, continues to be a source of inspiration for us and so many.

“On behalf of the Metropolitan Police, I apologise again for our past failings which will have made the grief of losing a loved one all the more difficult to endure.

“This anniversary, which closely follows the stark findings of the Casey Review, prompts us to pause, to remember and to reflect honestly on how policing has responded to the necessary calls for change that have punctuated the past 30 years.

‘Whilst significant progress was made against Macpherson’s recommendations, it is now clear that we did not dig deep enough to confront the cultural and systemic failings that allow discrimination to propagate.

“This failing has undermined the experience of our increasingly diverse workforce and compromised the trust of Londoners and our ability to protect them from crime.

“We have let Black communities down. They feel over policed and under protected. We are still not sufficiently representative of London, Black officers and staff still face discrimination and are not always sufficiently supported to progress within the Met. There are disproportionalities and systemic biases in our use of policing tactics and our support to victims of crime.

“We are deeply sorry for these failings.

“The responsibility for righting those wrongs, restoring the relationship with those communities and supporting our Black colleagues to succeed starts with those of us in positions of leadership but it continues through every rank and role in our organisation.

“I and the good majority of our officers are resolved to finally make the Met determinedly anti-racist and anti-discrimination of all kinds.