FOI release

Stephen Lawrence, Madeleine McCann, and Hillsborough stadium investigation costs

Published 8 January 2014

FOI release 29471

The murder of Stephen Lawrence

In July 1997 the then Home Secretary announced an inquiry to be led by Lord Macpherson into the matters arising from the death of Stephen Lawrence and the identification of lessons learned for the investigation and prosecution of racially motivated crimes. The inquiry was launched in March 1998 and its final report was published in February 1999.

The total cost of the Inquiry was £4.2 million. On the advice of Lord Macpherson, £3.5 million of this total was paid from the Metropolitan Police Fund.

In July 2012 the Home Secretary ordered an independent review into allegations of police corruption in the original police investigation into the murder of Stephen Lawrence. The review has been extended to cover allegations around the role of undercover policing in the case. The Queen’s Counsel taking forward this review will submit a report to the Home Secretary by the end of this year. This work is ongoing, but costs of the review look likely to be around £0.5 million.

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann

The current investigation is being conducted by the Metropolitan Police Service. The investigation is named Operation Grange. The Home Office agreed to fund this work from a central Special Grant budget, subject to the Home Office and the Metropolitan Police Service reviewing together the value and cost of the work at each stage.

The costs for Operation Grange are:

  • £1,929,354 for tax year 2011 to 2012
  • £2,770,387 for tax year 2012 to 2013
  • £1,254,705 for tax year 2013 to 2014

The Home Office will continue to work closely with the Metropolitan Police to review and control the costs appropriately and to ensure that the investigation has the resources it requires to undertake its work effectively.

The Hillsborough disaster

Two independent investigations into the Hillsborough disaster are currently under way and are funded by the Home Office. The costs for both investigations are shown below. These figures were compiled on 14 October 2014 and are therefore correct up to that date.

An independent investigation by the IPCC to investigate the aftermath of the disaster:

Total resource £3.33 million. This includes £581,000 from 2012-13.

Total capital £3.02 million. This includes £309,000 from 2012-13.

A police-led investigation, Operation Resolve, directed by Jon Stoddart to investigate a range of organisations involved in the preparation for the event and what happened on the day:

Total resource £1.8 million. This includes £195,000 from 2012-13.

Total capital £162,000. This cost was incurred during 2012-13.