Matthew White was convicted of assaulting a black shop worker in the same Eltham road where Stephen Lawrence was fatally stabbed, it has been revealed.
The victim challenged White over shoplifting in the summer of 2020 — 27 years after the murder.
White then assaulted him, made threatening and knowing references to Stephen, and referred to his connections with other violent people.
The victim said White told him: “Remember you’re in Eltham, remember where you are, remember what happened to Stephen Lawrence. I can call my boys, they can come down and they can deal with you.”
The Well Hall Road shopkeeper told the BBC White mentioned Stephen “in almost every threat” — at least eight or nine times — and referred to the fact that it happened at the nearby bus stop. White said the victim would be “Stephen Lawrenced” and then attacked him.
Police were called and White was later convicted of assault after admitting the offence. The victim had not heard about the conviction until told by the BBC. In a statement the Met apologised for not informing him that charges had been brought.
Scotland Yard stopped investigating Stephen Lawrence’s murder a month after the assault with the former commissioner Cressida Dick saying there were no viable lines of inquiry.
White had worked as a scaffolder and gardener but had a criminal record for theft and had spent time in jail.
He was a drug user at the time of Stephen’s murder in 1993 and became a heroin addict. White died aged 50 in a bedsit a year after his assault conviction.
His inquest heard his body was not found for several days and the cause of death could not be established. Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.
White had been suicidal, overdosed by accident in the recent past, and had health problems.
A statement written by a relative was read by the coroner. It included a cryptic summary of his life: “Matthew was a lovely lad that happened to go to the wrong place at the wrong time.”
