Mother of Stephen Lawrence to be awarded honorary degree

Doreen Lawrence is one of five recipients of the degrees which are being presented by York University at ceremonies on Friday and Saturday.

She first came to the public’s attention in 1993 when her teenage son was murdered in a racially-motivated attack in the Eltham district of south-east London.

Mrs Lawrence staged a long-running fight for justice, and a judicial inquiry which was eventually launched found the Metropolitan Police’s “institutionally racism” had undermined its investigation into her son’s death. Gary Dobson and David Norris were given life sentences at the Old Bailey in January last year after the trial had heard a gang of white youths carried out the attack on A-level student Stephen.

Mrs Lawrence founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust to promote a community legacy in her son’s name and is a member of the board and council of Liberty, the human rights organisation, as well as a patron of the hate-crime charity, Stop Hate UK.

The university also revealed yesterday that Yohei Sasakawa, the Nippon Foundation’s chairman and Japan’s ambassador for the human rights of leprosy sufferers, and the award-winning historian, author and broadcaster, Bettany Hughes, who is an expert on ancient and medieval history, will also be honoured at this week’s ceremonies.

The BAFTA-winning playwright, Trevor Griffiths, who has worked with the university’s Department of Theatre, Film and Television and given masterclasses to students, and Frances Patterson QC, the lawyer who represented the university at the public inquiry into its multi-million pound expansion, will also be given honorary degrees.