London - The mother of the murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence yesterday criticised a police disciplinary hearing as a "whitewash" after a senior detective was cleared of most of the charges.
Det Insp Ben Bullock was cleared of 26 of the 28 elements of the internal disciplinary action brought after the bungled inquiry into the 1993 murder, according to the chairman of the Metropolitan Police Federation, Glen Smyth.
Mr Bullock, who was second-in-command of the investigation, was found to have failed to brief officers properly over the search of suspects' homes. He was also found to have failed to investigate adequately the source of an anonymous letter about the case received by police.
