Bradford Racial Equality Council has urged the public to speak out at a meeting of the Stephen Lawrence inquiry team in Bradford this month.

Ateeq Siddique, Bradford Racial Equality Council's youth and racial harassment officer, said people who had experience of racial incidents should tell the panel how they were treated by the authorities.

Bradford, along with Manchester and Bristol, has been picked for the meetings of the inquiry team because of the city's ethnic mix.

The visits aim to look at the lessons to be learned from the investigation of racially motivated crime in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence case.

Black teenager Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death by white youths at a bus stop in South East London, on April 22, 1993.

Five people were charged with the 18-year-old's murder but no one was convicted and the police were criticised for their handling of the investigation.

His parents tried to bring a private prosecutions against three of the youths, but the case failed.

Last year an independent inquiry into his death was opened to identify the lessons to be learned from the police investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes.

Mr Siddique said the Stephen Lawrence inquiry had raised a whole range of issues which affected the whole of the country, including Bradford.

He said: "The aim of the visit is to see what is the experience of people in Bradford and Yorkshire when it comes to racial incidents in general. This is a chance for them all to be heard."

The meeting is being held between 10am and 5pm on Wednesday, October 21, in the Stakis Hotel, Bradford.

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