'The boys who killed Stephen Lawrence'

A BBC1 documentary about the investigation into the racist murder of teenage Stephen Lawrence in Eltham, south east London in 1993, which was aired in July 2006.This documentary unfolds the investigation step by step, in order to inform the viewer of the key conceps of the case. The documentary uses many techniques to emphasize the awful tragedy and shocking stories of the police failing to investigate properly into the case. Within 3 days of the murder, prime suspects had been identified, however no arrests were made until 2 weeks after. All 5 suspects, Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt, Jamie Acourt, Luke Knight and David Norris were arrested but the charges were dropped on 29th July 1993 by the Crown Prosecution Service, citing there was insufficient evidence. In order to try and explain step by step the unfolding investigation, there are many interviews and reconstruction footage to help give the audience a better picture of what really happened. Reconstructions of the run up to the murder, the actual murder and after the murder help the the audience to understand the unprovoked, racially motivated attack, and also interviews with blurred out faces and voice changes are shown. Evidence such as crime scene photos and mortuary photos were also used, in able to show the audience that they are seeing the truth as it is very easy to be told something and be unsure whether it is true. However, evidence ensures the audience that what they are being told definitely happened and pictures show the audience the seriousness of the attack. Many pieces of evidence which proved that the 5 prime suspects were in fact the murderers were also shown within the documentary. For example, a photo of Jamie Acourt leaving home carrying a heavy black bin liner was shown, however they then state that the police failed to follow him. A covert camera put in the suspect Gary Dobson's flat in 1994 produced shocking evidence of the racist views and capability to harm the men had, showing suspect Neil Acourt toying around with a large knife and making violent gestures and extremely racist remarks with another suspect Luke Knight.  The documentary is very informative, using satellite maps and birds eye views to show the involved areas.

                         

Here is a video of some clips from the covert footage of the suspects in Gary Dobson's flat making racist remarks and playing around with knifes.