Duwayne Brooks

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia

Duwayne Brooks
OBE
Councillor for
Lewisham London Borough Council
In office
February 2009 – May 2014
WardDownham
Personal details
Born (1974-09-27) 27 September 1974 (age 50)
Lewisham, London, England
Political party
Education

Duwayne Lloyd Anthony Brooks OBE (born 27 September 1974) is a former councillor in the London Borough of Lewisham. He was a friend of Stephen Lawrence and was with him when he was murdered.[1]

Early life

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Brooks was born in Lewisham to Jamaican parents. He grew up in Deptford and attended Blackheath Bluecoat Church of England School in Charlton. In 1991 he went to study engineering at Woolwich College and at Lewisham College a year later.[2]

Murder of Stephen Lawrence

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Main article: Murder of Stephen Lawrence

Brooks was with his friend Stephen Lawrence when he was murdered on 22 April 1993, and experienced severe post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the attack.[3] He sought damages under the tort of negligence for his treatment by the police in the aftermath of the murder, as a suspect rather than a witness.[4] This claim was rejected on the basis that case precedent, particularly the case of Hill v Chief Constable of West Yorkshire (1989) had not established that police should owe a duty of care to claimants impacted by their negligence.[5] Although, unlike Hill, the police had harmed Brooks directly, rather than him being harmed by their lack of action, the police were not deemed liable for his psychiatric injuries.[6] The murder led to an inquiry headed by Sir William Macpherson which concluded that the Metropolitan Police Force was "institutionally racist".

Brooks was arrested after allegations that he was involved in an incident during an anti-racist march outside the British National Party headquarters in Welling days after the murder.[7] Although Brooks was charged, the judge dismissed the case against him.[7] It was later revealed that the Special Demonstration Squad had been set to discover any incriminating details about members of the Justice for Stephen Lawrence campaign, including his parents and friends. The allegations against Brooks subsequently appeared.[8] Brooks sued the Metropolitan Police in 2006, winning £100,000 in compensation.[9][10]

Political career

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In February 2009, Brooks became a councillor for the Liberal Democrats in the London Borough of Lewisham following a by-election in the Downham Ward.[11][12] Later that year, he was elected onto the Safer Communities Board at the Local Government Group as Lead Member for the Liberal Democrats.[13] He was re-elected for the Downham Ward in May 2010,[14] and appointed "Community Cohesion and PREVENT Champion" at the Local Government Group months later.[13]

In autumn 2010, Brooks was named among the potential candidates[15] for the 2012 London mayoral election[16] but was never shortlisted. He was part of the team around the eventual Liberal Democrat Mayoral candidate, Brian Paddick, said to be as a proposed Deputy for Youth and Communities.[17] He stood unsuccessfully as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Mayor of Lewisham in 2014.[18] He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 2015 Birthday Honours for public and political service.[19]

Brooks was shortlisted to be the party's candidate for the 2016 London mayoral election, but withdrew in August 2015 in order to assist a review of stop and search by police in Northamptonshire.[20] In 2018, he stood unsuccessfully as an independent candidate to become Mayor of Lewisham.[21][22][23]

Brooks joined the Conservative Party in May 2018.[24] He was longlisted to be their 2020 London mayoral candidate, but was not selected.[25]

References

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  1. ^ Adams, Tim (6 April 2003). "'I just want to be free of Steve'". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  2. ^ Brooks, Duwayne (7 September 2006). Steve and Me: My friendship with Stephen Lawrence. BrooksBooks. ISBN 978-0-95-526890-8.
  3. ^ Smith, Graham (1 August 2005). "Police: Duty of Care to Victims and Witnesses: Brooks v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis and others [2005] UKHL 24". The Journal of Criminal Law. 69 (4): 318–321. doi:10.1350/jcla.2005.69.4.318. ISSN 0022-0183. S2CID 143308407.
  4. ^ Brooks v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2005] 1 WLR 1495
  5. ^ Tofaris, Stelios; Steel, Sandy (March 2016). "Negligence Liability for Omissions and the Police". The Cambridge Law Journal. 75 (1): 128–157. doi:10.1017/S0008197315001002. ISSN 0008-1973. S2CID 147867705.
  6. ^ Michael v Chief Constable of South Wales Police [2015] UKSC 2, [2015] AC 1732 [32]
  7. ^ a b Symonds, Tom (24 June 2013). "Police 'spied on' Stephen Lawrence family, says Guardian newspaper". BBC News. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  8. ^ "Stephen Lawrence family 'targeted in police smear campaign'". Channel 4 News. 24 June 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
  9. ^ Cowan, Rosie (11 March 2006). "£100,000 Met compensation for Stephen Lawrence's friend" – via www.theguardian.com.
  10. ^ "Stephen Lawrence murder: The persecution of Duwayne Brooks". Socialist Worker (Britain).
  11. ^ Bannerman, Lucy (17 February 2009). "Duwayne Brooks, friend of Stephen Lawrence, goes into politics". The Times. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  12. ^ "Downham Ward by-election results 19 February 2009". London Borough of Lewisham. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  13. ^ a b "LGA Safer and Stronger Communities Board Member Profile". Lga.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  14. ^ "Downham Ward Election results 6 May 2010". London Borough of Lewisham. 6 May 2010. Retrieved 6 January 2011.
  15. ^ "Stephen Lawrence friend may run for mayor of London", BBC News, London, 21 September 2010. Retrieved on 04-01-2011.
  16. ^ "Lib-Dem failure to find candidate puts party out of mayoral race for year". London Evening Standard. 15 October 2010. Retrieved 30 May 2011.
  17. ^ "We need to get behind Brian Paddick and our London candidates now", by Chris Rennard, London Liberal Democrats election communication, 13 April 2012
  18. ^ "The Men Who Would Be Mayor of Lewisham". 17 December 2013. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
  19. ^ "No. 61256". The London Gazette (Supplement). 13 June 2015. p. B11.
  20. ^ "Close friend of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence pulls out of the race to be London's next mayor". ITV News. 19 August 2015. Retrieved 1 June 2018.
  21. ^ Palmer, Jim (21 December 2017). "Stephen Lawrence pal Duwayne Brooks launches Lewisham mayor bid". News Shopper. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  22. ^ Porter, Toby (28 December 2017). "Stephen Lawrence friend is standing for borough mayor". South London News. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  23. ^ "Election results for London Borough of Lewisham". London Borough of Lewisham. Archived from the original on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 8 May 2018.
  24. ^ "Stephen Lawrence's friend Duwayne Brooks calls for Sadiq Khan to quit over violence surge". Evening Standard. 8 June 2018.
  25. ^ "London mayoral race: Tories shortlist 10 candidates". 18 July 2018 – via www.bbc.co.uk.

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