WITH HIM AT THE END
Who is Stephen Lawrence’s friend Duwayne Brooks?
IN 1993 Stephen Lawrence was brutally murdered while waiting for a bus near his home in Eltham in an attack by a gang of youths.
Duwayne Brooks was with the tragic teen when he was killed.
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Who is Duwayne Brooks?
Duwayne Brooks was born on Spetember 27, 1974.
He was a close friend of Stephen Lawrence, 18, and was with him on the night he was murdered.
Brooks became a Councillor for the Lib Dems in Lewisham in 2009 but joined the Tory party in 2018.
The 45-year-old was awarded an OBE in 2015 for public and political service.
What has Duwayne Brooks said about Stephen Lawrence's murder?
Duwayne said he saw his friend struck twice by two different weapons in an attack by men who had shouted racial abuse at them in 1993.
When Stephen collapsed, Duwayne frantically tried to stop cars and called the emergency services, but his friend died from his injuries.
In the BBC's Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation, Doreen Lawrence admits she was never given answers directly by Duwayne.
Viewers were disgusted as Met cop "smirked"; as he said Duwayne had "run and left his mate".
Defending his actions, Duwayne reveals that he ran because he did not want to risk the danger, while Stephen stood up to the men.
Describing his friend's dying word to him, he added: "He said one more time 'Duwayne' and his voice was funny and he fell at that tree."
Speaking to the BBC, Duwayne, who wept as he described his friend's murder, said: "The ambulance comes and when they pick him up they turn him over and pick him up, he is completely soaked in his own blood."
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How was Stephen Lawrence murdered?
Stephen was stabbed to death in an unprovoked attack in Eltham, South East London, on April 22, 1993.
What followed was a long battle for justice led by Stephen's family and judicial reviews that would expose racism within the Met.
The day after the killing a letter naming suspects was left in a phone box.
In May and June 1993 police arrested five suspects and charged two, but the charges were dropped a month later with cops saying Duwayne's ID evidence was unreliable.
The following year the CPS again refused to prosecute suspects, despite new evidence being brought forward.
Stephen's angry parents launched a private prosecution against Gary Dobson, Luke Knight and Neil Acourt.
It failed in 1996 when Duwayne's ID evidence was declared inadmissible.
However in 2012 Dobson and David Norris were found guilty of his murder.
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