The father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence told yesterday how his family was torn apart by his son’s death.
Neville Lawrence said the murder of 18-year-old Stephen in 1993 spelled the end of his marriage to Doreen, which had until then been a “normal, loving relationship”.
He added: “Our world began falling apart from the moment the hospital staff told us our son had died.
“For some reason that I’ve tried to understand – and I still don’t – we couldn’t reach out to one another.
“We stayed together for another six years, but from that day we never physically touched one another again.”
Despite their long campaign for justice for their son, which involved much group discussion, Mr Lawrence said he and his wife would discuss “absolutely nothing” as a couple.
He told the Daily Mail newspaper: “You know, in 18 years, me and Doreen have still never once talked about what happened to Stephen that night. About how and why he died and how it affected us”.
Meanwhile, Britain’s top law officer is reviewing claims that jail terms for Stephen Lawrence’s killers are “unduly lenient”.
Several formal requests to the Attorney General have been made since an Old Bailey trial judge suggested he would increase the minimum sentences of Gary Dobson and David Norris if the law allowed.
The development came as police assessed fresh information in efforts to hunt down other suspects in the 1993 racist murder. Scotland Yard has denied claims that investigations were being scaled down after Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe said other suspects will not be allowed to “rest easily in their beds”.
A spokesman for the Attorney General said he had been contacted by several individuals requesting a review after a member of the public made a first formal application within hours of the killers being jailed.
The Attorney General has no choice but to review the sentence as part of his public interest function.
“Anybody can request that we look at the case,” the spokesman said. “We will consider it in the normal way”.
Mr Dobson, 36, who is already serving a five-year sentence for drug-dealing, was sentenced to at least 15 years and two months at the Old Bailey yesterday.
Mr Norris, 35, was given a minimum of 14 years and three months for the murder, which the judge said was a “terrible and evil crime”.
Mr Justice Treacy urged police not to “close the file” on catching the rest of the killers after the court heard that a gang of five or six white youths set upon the A-level student in Eltham, south east London, in 1993.
Police are following up new information they have received since the guilty verdicts.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said: “We can confirm that we have received a number of telephone calls in light of the verdicts and today’s sentencing. This information will be evaluated”.
Mr Lawrence’s mother Doreen, in an interview said of the sentences: “They took my son’s life, so I feel they should be given life with a minimum of 20 years.