'No corruption' in Lawrence case

There is no evidence of corruption between a detective and a criminal in the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, a police watchdog has ruled.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) said retired detective sergeant John Davidson did not take a bribe to shield the killers of 18-year-old Stephen from justice.

The black teenager was murdered by a gang of white thugs as he walked home with a friend in Eltham, southeast London, on April 22, 1993.

A botched investigation, failed private prosecution and subsequent public inquiry would prove to be one of the most damning chapters in modern policing history.

In July 2006, claims were made in a BBC documentary that Mr Davidson had a corrupt relationship with convicted drug dealer Clifford Norris, father of murder suspect David Norris.

The programme featured an interview with disgraced former detective Neil Putnam, who turned informant on his colleagues after being arrested for corruption in 1998.

Putnam claimed he told officers that Mr Davidson once said Mr Norris was "a good little earner". But IPCC officials found no evidence that this was the case.

However, the IPCC has concluded there may have been confusion over another David Norris who had been an informant and was murdered in 1991.

The findings - which follow a year-long investigation - are bound to reignite the firestorm of controversy that surrounded the broadcast of the documentary The Boys Who Killed Stephen Lawrence.

Senior IPCC investigator John Cummins personally delivered the results of his inquiry to the parents of Stephen, Neville and Doreen Lawrence.

Asked how they reacted, he said: "There is frustration. They have lived with Stephen's murder for 14 years. They want justice. There was disappointment."

Following the corruption probe, the Metropolitan Police lashed out at the BBC for broadcasting "unfounded allegations" and hyping them with its "powerful publicity machinery".

After the documentary was aired, several complaints arose which the IPCC subsequently investigated.

A BBC spokeswoman said: "The police investigation in to the murder of Stephen Lawrence is one of the most high profile criminal investigations of the last two decades and is of overwhelming public interest.

"We considered it our duty to bring these serious allegations before the public and fully respect the response of the police to those allegations. We stand by the journalism of the programme.

"It should be noted that the IPCC did not criticise the BBC in it report."

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.