Stephen's friend: I'm sorry for police

The best friend of Stephen Lawrence today voiced sympathy for the police officers still facing investigation for the Met's disastrous inquiry into his death almost a decade ago.

As it emerged that a number of officers have retired sick or left the force because of the trauma, Duwayne Brooks, 27, said he regrets that the process has gone on so long.

Mr Brooks is taking civil action against 13 officers, claiming they refused to accept he was a victim and failed to act upon the information he gave them. He claims they treated him differently because he is black.

But today, on the ninth anniversary of the killing, he urged Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir John Stevens and Home Secretary David Blunkett to intervene.

"I have got a lot of sympathy for the officers because we have all moved on," he said. "I don't want to drag those officers to court. They have new jobs and families. I don't want this battle but Sir John and Mr Blunkett are the ones who can stop it."

It was reported today that Mr Brooks is writing an explosive new book, called Steve And Me, which will accuse Stephen's mother Doreen of imposing a latenight curfew that helped lead to her son's death. It was claimed that fear of being locked out drove the two teenagers to take a dangerous route home.

Mr Brooks said he does not intend his book to be an attack on the Lawrences. "It is not about them. It is about Steve and me. About our relationship," he said. "The way we used to have a laugh and fight. The image many people have of him has been used to try to lift him out of our community. They have tried to elevate him and he would not have liked that."

He said the book will mention the Lawrence family but will not seek to criticise them. "They were an ordinary family but they were not perfect. No family is perfect."

Stephen, 18, was stabbed to death in Eltham in 1993. Campaigners are waiting to hear whether any of the gang suspected of the murder will face criminal charges. The original suspects, Luke Knight, Gary Dobson, David Norris and Jamie and Neil Acourt, have always protested their innocence.

It is also being claimed that police are investigating the possibility that a different gang could have been behind the murder.