Stephen Lawrence: Theresa May orders review into police corruption claims Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack in south-east London in 1993. Photograph: PA The home secretary has ordered an independent review into allegations that police corruption shielded the killers of Stephen Lawrence. The Guardian understands that a senior barrister who has reached the rank of Queens counsel will be asked to examine suspicions of corruption made by the Lawrence family. One person being considered to carry out the review is a senior prosecutor. The decision by the home secretary, Theresa May, comes a day after the Metropolitan police released the findings of its own review, which said it could find no evidence of corruption and that the force had passed all relevant material to the 1998 Macpherson inquiry. In a statement a home office spokesperson said: "The home secretary has asked for a QC-led review of the work the Metropolitan police has undertaken into investigating claims of corruption in the original Stephen Lawrence murder investigation." Stephen's mother, Doreen Lawrence, had asked for a judge-led inquiry into the corruption allegations. The home secretary's decision comes after the Met's own review gave itself a clean bill of health. The Met review began in March after allegations about corruption in the Lawrence case made in the Guardian and Independent. The claims centre on former Met commander Ray Adams, who was a senior officer in the south London area where Stephen was murdered, and former detective sergeant John Davidson, who was a senior detective on the first, flawed investigation into the racist killing. Adams and Davidson had been the subjects of internal corruption investigations, after which neither officer faced disciplinary or criminal charges. They retired on full police pensions and denied any wrongdoing. Adams, who left the force because of a bad back, went on to work at a Rupert Murdoch-owned company, NDS, in a senior security role. At the 1998 Macpherson inquiry into police failings in investigating Stephen's death, the Lawrence lawyers claimed Clifford Norris, whose son, David Norris, was a prime suspect in the murder, may have tried to use his influence to protect his son and others in the gang. David Norris was convicted of the murder in January this year, along with Gary Dobson. The Macpherson inquiry said it could find no evidence of corruption, but the suspicions of the Lawrence family have not gone away.