London 2012: Carrying Olympic flag was 'unbelievable' honour, says Doreen Lawrence

The mother of murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence has spoken of the “unbelievable” honour of carrying the Olympic flag during the London 2012 Games opening ceremony.

Doreen Lawrence said she was carrying the flag for "so many people" including her 18-year-old son, who was killed by a gang of white youths as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south east London, in April 1993.

"I think I was carrying it for so many people, and Stephen was one of them," she told ITV's Daybreak.

"To be in that position, it was really an honour. I never in my wildest dreams had ever thought that I would be somebody that anybody would look to choose to carry the Olympic flag."

Mrs Lawrence's position at the head of the group carrying the flag in Friday's ceremony came after she carried the Olympic Torch days earlier in south east London in memory of her son.

Mrs Lawrence, 59, and her former husband, Neville, have campaigned tirelessly to see some of the men who killed their son jailed.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, were found guilty of his murder by an Old Bailey jury in January.

PA