i Deputy Editor's Letter: Trust in the Met will go down

If the evening of 22 April 1993 were not distressing enough, the two decades since have produced some of the worst tales of corruption, incompetence and cover-up known in Britain.

Had Stephen Lawrence not been stabbed to death in a racist attack while waiting for a bus in south London, he would have been 40 this year. But now we shall never know what this promising young student could have achieved in life.

After numerous trials, reviews and inquiries that were supposed to set matters straight, we start over again. The Lawrence family will once again have to come to terms with revisiting the tragic events, after Theresa May ordered a judge-led public inquiry into undercover policing while a previous inquiry was under way.

Stephen’s father, Neville, said that “trust and confidence in the Met is going to go right down”. How right he is. Let’s hope that justice is finally served so that we can rebuild from here.

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Is a generation of young people right to give up on Westminster politics? It’s not too late to sign up for our second i Students debate, to be held at Manchester Town Hall on Tuesday 11 March, at 6pm. Tickets are free to any undergraduates at UK universities or to full-time FE students, via ind.pn/imanchesterdebate, where you can also submit questions. You don’t have to be studying in Manchester to attend.

i Editor Oliver Duff will preside over columnist Owen Jones, i news editor Fran Yeoman, the Editor of The Independent Amol Rajan, and our critic Ellen E Jones. We’re hoping for a fiery debate!

i@independent.co.uk

Twitter.com: @jonesrhodri