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BBC's ace inquisitor raises hackles with plan to interview accused in racist attack

Murali Krishnan in London

BBC hot-shot, Martin Bashir, who rose to fame after interviewing Princess Diana, has come under fire following plans that he is planning to quiz Stephen Lawrence's suspected killers for television.

Black teenager Stephen Lawrence was allegedly killed by five white youths in 1993 at a bus stop in south London. The murder had seized the attention of many and the police had come under severe flak because of their mishandling of the case.

All the five white youths have been acquitted. Recently, they appeared in front of a public inquiry panel and refused to answer questions. Instead,they stuck their fingers up in rude gesture at the angry Black and Asian crowds waiting outside the building.

Bashir is optimistic that the five youths will appear on BBC's Panorama programme later this autumn.

But even before the interview, his action has irked the Black and Asian community who feel he is helping them boost their notoriety -- instead of helping to put them behind bars.

"They just want to be seen speaking in a civil fashion with a black person. Martin should take a long, hard look in the mirror before he proceeds with this," stormed the Lawrence family spokesman, Barry Mussendon.

"We know that Panorama was looking to make a programme but we never knew it might include Martin Bashir interviewing the five."

A meeting between Bashir and the suspects -- Neil Acourt, Gary Dobson, David Norris, Jamie Arcourt and Luke Knight, all in their early 20s -- has been arranged by the celebrity spin doctor Max Clifford who suggested that the five go public after they approached him with worries about their poor public image.

"I told them the only way to change the public perception of them is to go on television and tell the whole story," said Clifford, insisting that he was only advising them and not representing them.

The BBC, however, has defended Bashir, maintaining that it would be a "serious investigation" into Stephen's racially-motivated stabbing.

"It will not be a Martin Bashir simply interviewing these five boys. It will be a hard look at the case," said the BBC office.

After his celebrated Princess Diana interview, Bashir was somehow eclipsed. He bounced back doing an interview with Louise Woodward, the English au pair, accused of murdering baby Mathew Eapen in the United States.

Stephen's parents have been taken aback by Bashir's proposed plans. They are still fighting for justice five-and-a-half years after his death.

Just last week, Neville Lawrence, Stephen's father made an anguished speech at a massive gathering in the City, which moved the audience to tears.

The ethnic press has also been critical of Bashir's "ambitious" move and stating that "Trial by television doesn't work. It doesn't establish the truth. It doesn't present all the facts.

"All it does it attract high rating -- at the cost of the victims."

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