Archbishop of York thanks Lord Chancellor for setting up the Stephen Lawrence Judicial Inquiry

The Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, today awarded an anti-slavery medallion to the Lord Chancellor Jack Straw.

Speaking at the opening of the St. Paul's Centre, Blackburn College, the Archbishop of York said: "The medallion is a small token of my gratitude to Jack Straw for his agreement to set up a judicial inquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence".

The medallion, a copy of one made by Josiah Wedgwood, two hundred years ago, as a symbol for the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade features a slave bound in chains and surrounded by the words, "Am I not a Man and a brother?".

The Archbishop enclosed a further anti-slavery medallion and a cross into a time capsule at the college, as symbols of hope borne from suffering and tears.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• For further information contact Arun Arora, Archbishop's Director of Communications, 07738 354491/ 01904 707021