THE father of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence collapsed as he heard the details of how his son died as seen through the eyes of Stephen's best friend. The statement by Duwayne Brooks, read out to the inquiry last Friday, proved too much for Neville Lawrence, who said he was still very upset and it was the first time in five years he had heard what happened from Duwayne himself. Mr Lawrence, 51, also learned the five white suspects accused of his son's murder were proposing to take legal action to test the legality of the inquiry and to avoid breaking their silence.

They will be compelled to speak at the inquiry on June 8, or risk a £1,000 fine or six months in prison, after a summons was issued by inquiry chairman Sir William Macpherson of Cluny. The inquiry heard from Duwayne how his friend's life ebbed away in a pool of blood after he was stabbed. He said: "We were attacked by a group of white boys one of whom shouted `what, what nigger?'" He said he couldn't bear to go into the details of the attack but described how Stephen fell to the ground as they ran away. He was still breathing. He could not speak. I saw his blood running away."

Duwayne tried to flag down motorists and stop passers-by but was ignored until two couples stopped and one went for an ambulance. He said: "I was desperate for the ambulance. It was taking too long, I was frightened by the amount of blood Steve was losing. I saw his life fading away. I didn't know what to do to help him. I was frightened I would do something wrong." He was told he had to go to the police station to make a statement where, he said, officers appeared sceptical about his story that he and Stephen had done nothing to provoke the attack. He ended: "Racist thugs killed Steve and shattered my life. I think of Steve every day and I am sad for his other friends and his family."

l In 1996 Neil Acourt, 22, Luke Knight, 20, and David Norris, 21, were acquitted of murder at the Old Bailey and the charge against Jamie Acourt, 21, and Gary Dobson, 22, was dropped due to lack of evidence - in theory that pair could still be charged.

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