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UK: Duwayne Brooks to sue police

01 March 2002

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Duwayne Brooks, the best friend of racist murder victim Stephen Lawrence who was stabbed to death in south-east London in 1993, has won a court case to sue the Metropolitan police for negligence. Duwayne, who was with Stephen on the night he was murdered, alleges that police officers breached the Race Relations Act and will sue the police commissioner and 13 officers for wrongful arrest and negligence. The action follows a series of legal battles and the latest ruling by three appeal judges reinstates claims that were struck out by a judge at the Central London County Court in 1999. Duwayne, who suffered from post-traumatic stress syndrome after the murder, says that police officers did not treat him as the victim of an attack but as a suspect: "The police treated me like a suspect not a victim...The only way the police are going to improve their behaviour is when they are held responsible and have to account for themselves in court." A Police Federation spokesman expressed "disappointment" at the decision, while a Scotland Yard spokesperson said that the force is considering appealing against it to the House of Lords. A fortnight earlier the current Metropolitan commissioner, John Stevens, launched a scathing attack on the criminal justice system for failing the victims of crime - it would appear that his arguments were not meant to apply to cases such as that of Duwayne Brooks.

Guardian 27.3.02.

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