dave50....I think you will find that it was the fact that the murder wasn't investigated properly by the Police, for reasons of racism and incompetence
(as proved by the conclusions of the Public Enquiry) that gave this crime a higher prominence than it would have achieved otherwise. If the Police had done their job properly in the first place, its unlikely that we would still be discussing this now, 20 years later. They didn't even give Stephen any first aid at the scene of the crime !
I don't think anybody is suggesting that the killing of a black boy is in any way more serious than the killing of a white boy, and I am not suggesting that you are saying that either dave. Far more serious crimes have been committed since ...the recent Philpott case is one that comes to mind. That case upset me more than anything had for a long time.
It might help everybody if I included a link to the Public Enquiry at this point :::::::::::
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Stephen_Lawrence#The_Stephen_Lawrence_Inquiry
Even if you think you might know all about this case, it pays to read the above. The outcome of the Enquiry was truly shocking.