Former Archbishop of York Lord John Sentamu says it is "tragic and exasperating" that the Met Police is yet to free itself of institutional racism 30 years on from the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Lord Sentamu was one of three independent advisers appointed to the Macpherson public inquiry into the Met response to the murder whose damning findings were published in 1999.

Stephen was murdered by a racist gang as he tried to get the bus home with a friend in Eltham, south-east London, on April 22, 1993. Five men were arrested but it took until 2012 until two of them, Gary Dobson and David Norris, were handed life sentences after being found guilty of murder at the Old Bailey.

Writing in The Yorkshire Post today on the 30th anniversary of the murder, Lord Sentamu said this year's inquiry by Dame Louise Casey into Met failures following the murder of York student Sarah Everard and a series of other scandals showed not enough has changed within the organisation.

Former Archbishop of York, John Sentamu, was an adviser to the Macpherson inquiry.

The Casey review found last month that the force is institutionally racist, misogynist and homophobic.

Lord Sentamu said: "The murderers of Stephen Lawrence were racists. The organisation which failed to catch them was (and sadly still is) guilty of institutional racism.”

Met Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley has previously rejected the accusation of institutional racism in the recent review by Baroness Casey, saying the term is ambiguous and politicised.

But in advance of today’s anniversary, Sir Mark has now said that the Met has “let black communities down”.

He said: “This anniversary, which closely follows the stark findings of the Casey Review, prompts us to pause, to remember and to reflect honestly on how policing has responded to the necessary calls for change that have punctuated the past 30 years.

'Whilst significant progress was made against Macpherson’s recommendations, it is now clear that we did not dig deep enough to confront the cultural and systemic failings that allow discrimination to propagate.

“This failing has undermined the experience of our increasingly diverse workforce and compromised the trust of Londoners and our ability to protect them from crime.

“We have let black communities down.”

Lord Sentamu is due to speak today at a memorial service in London for Stephen Lawrence at St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square.

PostScript: Page 11

Comment: Page 12

Saturday Essay: Page 14

'Tragic and exasperating' ongoing failures from Met on racism 30 years after Stephen Lawrence murder, says John Sentamu