The sixth suspect in the murder of Stephen Lawrence, Matthew White, reportedly said he had killed before as he tried to stab a black security guard.
White, a reported heroin user, was shoplifting from Lidl in Eltham, south-east London, and had tried to stab the victim with a needle of a used syringe while using racial slurs.
The former security guard said White told him: “I will kill you, I’ve done it before, nothing will happen.”
At the time, the Metropolitan Police was investigating the 1993 stabbing of Stephen Lawrence. Two of the killers had been jailed in 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris, but police had consistently said there were six attackers.
Despite the ongoing inquiries, the security guard was never contacted by officers on the murder case, with Metropolitan Police apologising “if this was not investigated as it should have been”.
The BBC reports a former victim of White’s said he told him in a 2015 attack there had been no consequences for killing “Stephen”.
Bethel Ikpeze told the BBC he was working as a security officer in Lidl when he spotted White trying to shoplift. Mr Ikpeze said he managed to restrain White until police arrived. He told the BBC: “I asked him, ‘Do you want to kill me? Do you want to stab me?’ He said, ‘Yes, I will kill you.'”
According to Mr Ikpeze, White made multiple references to having killed before, saying “I’ve done it before” and “we have done it before”, along with the name “Stephen”.
White had attempted to stab the former security guard with a syringe. Mr Ikpeze said if he had not reacted immediately, he would have been a “dead man” or someone with serious injuries.
Mr Ikpeze, who was born in Nigeria, said he made no connection to Stephen Lawrence. He had heard of the case but was unfamiliar with it.
Mr Ikpeze said he informed police of the exchange with White and uniformed officers said they would “run a check”.
White was jailed for four months but did not face charges for attempting to harm the guard or racially abusing him.
In a statement to the BBC, the Metropolitan Police said it understood that Mr Ikpeze had “told officers that White had shouted racial abuse and made threats to kill” in 2015.
The statement said: “We aim to take all reports of racial abuse seriously and we apologise if this was not investigated as it should have been.”
The BBC in June named Matthew White, who died aged 50 in 2021, as the sixth suspect in the case. It has now been 30 years since Stephen Lawrence was murdered and stabbed multiple times at a bus stop in Eltham, South East London on April 22, 1993.
Here, Express.co.uk looks at what happened to the gang members suspected of stealing the young man’s “promising life”.
