The best friend of Stephen Lawrence said he could have identified the sixth suspect in a line-up if he was given the opportunity and has accused police of sabotaging the investigation.
Duwayne Brooks was there when five or six people attacked and killed Lawrence in Eltham, south-east London in April 1993.
Mr Brooks told the Sunday Mirror he would have picked out the now-dead Matthew White in a lineup.
White was revealed as the sixth suspect in the murder in an investigation by the BBC a month ago.
“If they had put him in an ID parade in front of me at the time I would have picked him out 100%,” Mr Brooks said.
“There’s no doubt and I’m extremely confident other people at the bus stop would have picked him out and this case would have been solved then.”
White was first arrested over the murder in March 2000 and again in December 2013 but, on both occasions, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) advised there was no realistic prospect of conviction for any offence, the Metropolitan Police said.
Mr Brooks said he believes police treating White as a witness and not a suspect was “deliberate” so White would not have to face the ID parade.
“I believe the investigation team were corrupt and made decisions they knew would be fatal to the investigation,” Mr Brooks added.
“Matthew White was placed in the witness bracket when he should have been a suspect. I took part in three or four ID parades and they brought before me every man and his dog, and cat and rat and mouse and hamster.
“But this guy was never put before me. It was a deliberate act of sabotage. He died without having faced court. It’s disappointing. He should have been brought before a jury.”
It comes as the mother of Stephen Lawrence expressed fury that no police officers faced action over the handling of information about a sixth suspect in her son’s murder.
Doreen Lawrence said the man accused of leading the group of attackers towards her son avoided capture because of failings by police.
“What is infuriating about this latest revelation is that the man who is said to have led the murderous attack on my son has evaded justice because of police failures and yet not a single police officer has faced or will ever face action,” Ms Lawrence said.
Two men have been convicted of the murder – Gary Dobson and David Norris – and were jailed for life in 2012.
Other than White, the three remaining suspects are brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt, who have since served jail time for drug dealing, and Luke Knight, who has remained free.
A statement from Met Police said: “White first came to our attention as a witness in 1993. He was arrested and interviewed in March 2000 and in December 2013 and a file submitted to prosecutors in May 2005 and October 2014.
“On both occasions the CPS advised there was no realistic prospect of conviction of White for any offence.
“In February 2020, White was spoken to again. There was insufficient witness or forensic evidence to progress.”
