Allegations of corruption in the 1993 Stephen Lawrence murder inquiry have been levelled against John Davidson, a former Detective Sergeant who retired in March 1998.

Mr Davidson was decorated on his retirement for having served 30 years in the Metropolitan Police. He moved to Spain, where he is running a bar.

The Macpherson inquiry report into the what went wrong in the Lawrence investigation does not link the officer to corruption claims. It does however describe Mr Davidson as a self-willed and abrasive officer, and criticises his handling of witnesses and information.

He is accused of alienating witnesses with his abrupt manner and failing to act on information given to him by informants.

He was one of the first officers to interview 'James Grant', a man who walked into a police station within 24 hours of Stephen's killing and gave names and addresses of the Acourt brothers and David Norris as potential suspects. Mr Grant was first interviewed by a more junior officer, Detective Constable Christopher Budgen, who had been recruited to the team that day, Friday 23 April 1993.

The following day Mr Davidson and DC Budgen went to visit the informant who repeated vitually the same information to them both. Mr Davidson later referred to the informant as a "skinhead", the report notes.

But a decision was made by Mr Davidson's superior officer, Detective Superintendent Ian Crampton, not to arrest any suspects until two weeks later, on May 7. The Macpherson inquiry condemned this decision as a "vital and fundamental mistake".

While Mr Davidson was not part of this decision, he was criticised for failing to act on information he was given, which gave good reason to make arrests.

The report stresses that throughout the murder investigation that officers needed to encourage reluctant witnesses to become willing ones in order to get the full facts. Mr Davidson is criticised as being "simply not the right officer to apply tact and sensitivity in his approach" and senior officers for selecting him.

The Macpherson inquiry came to the conclusion that Mr Davidson had not made any positive attempts to thwart the investigation, but that his style of approach with witnesses was counterproductive.

Another failing of Mr Davidson's was that he felt the crime was not motivated by racism. The report states that his feelings were shared among other officers working on the investigation. The inquiry came to the conclusion after hearing evidence that the failure by officers to recognise the crime as racist was itself evidence of inherent racism in the case and in the police service. The report states that "DS Davidson and others have only themselves to blame for the perception that they were indeed institutionally racist".

In the BBC programme The Boys Who Killed Stephen Lawrence, which will be broadcast tonight, Mr Davidson is accused of being in the pay of Clifford Norris, a convicted drug trafficker, and of helping to shield Norris's son David and four friends -- brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt, Gary Dobson and Luke Knight.

Neil Putnam, a former detective constable who worked with Mr Davidson at the South East Regional Crme Squad, has claimed that Mr Davidson was one of a group of corrupt local detectives. Five detectives, including Mr Putnam, were convicted and jailed for colluding with informants to steal and re-sell drugs and other goods from criminals.

In 1998 Mr Davidson, who has always denied his involvement, was arrested at his home over allegations of corruption, including a cocaine deal in spring 1995, but was never charged.

Mr Davidson did not comment when approached by the BBC programme makers in Spain.

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