Lawrence Inquiry doc, Richard Stone, gets an OBE

Published: 17 June 2010
by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

A DOCTOR who served on the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry has been awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List.

Richard Stone, 73, from Hampstead, a former student at University College School in Frognal who grew up in Finchley Road, receives the gong for services to public and voluntary services.

Speaking from his Maresfield Garden home yesterday (Wednesday), where he lives with his pianist wife Ruth, Dr Stone said: “I get a great satisfaction from standing alongside and helping people who are in distress.”

He now works on building links between the Jewish and Muslim communities through his charity Alif-Aleph UK. Dr Stone is also president of the Jewish Council for Racial Equality.

His father was Labour peer Lord Stone while his uncle was Conservative peer Lord Ashdown – but he said he fell into campaigning by accident while working as a GP in Westminster. 

Dr Stone found himself embroiled in the anti-racism struggle when he was alerted to police brutality against black men in custody. Dr Stone was the only doctor willing to get involved. 

He said: “All I knew was it seemed a tiny thing to go and see if someone’s all right, when they’re covered in cuts and bruises and their family are concerned.”

It was also during his time as a GP that he blew the whistle on the “Homes For Votes” scandal that exposed Dame Shirley Porter’s gerrymandering at Westminster Council. He contacted auditors after noticing his patients were not getting housed and buildings were being boarded up to be sold.

An independent review carried out by Dr Stone last year, 10 years on from the original Lawrence Inquiry, revealed that black men are more likely to be stopped under the stop and search policy than they were a decade ago, while there are now fewer black officers at the top.

Apart from his love of cello – he passed his grade 7 exam some years ago and plays in string quartets with his wife – he also spends time with his three children and two grandchildren.

Going to the Palace... Camden residents among those set to receive gongs

Other prominent Camden residents recognised in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List are:

• Kent University Vice-chair Professor Julia Goodfellow, from South End Green: Dame Commander for services to Science
• Charity Action for Children internet safety adviser John Adam Carr, from Hampstead: OBE for services to child protection on the internet
• Dr Kartar Singh Lalvani, from Regent’s Park: OBE for services to the pharmaceutical industry and to charity
• Heart of the City director Fiona Jennie Rawes, from Kentish Town: MBE for services to corporate social responsibility
• Jaeger fashion house and the British Fashion Council chairman Harold Tillman, from Highgate: CBE for services to the fashion industry
• Medical Research Council estates manager Keith Tucker, from Highgate: MBE for services to science
• University College Hospital consultant Professor Linda Luxon: CBE for services to medicine
• Writer Bonnie Greer, from Fitzrovia: OBE for services to the arts
• Camden and Islington Pharmacy Service pharmacy manager John Patrick Farrell, from Barnet: Member of the British Order for services to healthcare
• Historian Oku Ekpenyon, from Fitzrovia: MBE for services to the history of black British people
• Camden Town artist Paula Rego, who has a studio in Rochester Place, was made a Dame for services to art. The Portuguese-born painter was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2005 and has an honorary degree from Oxford University. 

Ms Rego’s work commands fees of hundreds of thousands of pounds, and has been championed by the rich and famous including pop star Madonna. A museum dedicated to her work opened in her native Portugal, where she has campaigned against rigid policies on abortion.

The House of Stories gallery is one of only a handful of galleries dedicated to a living artist. The former Slade School of Fine Art student lives in Hampstead and has a studio at Kentish Town.