Stephen Lawrence was buried in Jamaica because his family feared his grave would be desecrated if it was in the UK, his mother has revealed.

Doreen Lawrence told the BBC's Panorama programme she felt Britain did not deserve to have her son buried there.

She said: "I am really pleased I have buried him here, because had he been buried in the UK his grave would have been desecrated so many times.

"Here nobody knows where he is. Then again, I don't think the country deserves to have his body there anyway because they took his life.

"I think it's still the best thing we did, that we brought him here so he can be next to his great-grandmother so she can look after him."

The grave, which is in a secret location, bears a picture of her murdered son which will soon be replaced because it is fading, Mrs Lawrence said.

In the programme Mrs Lawrence looked through pictures of Stephen as a child and said she is protective of his memory.

"I don't like the idea of too many photos of Stephen being out. I just think everybody seems to want to have photos of him and I just think 'no'.

"The one is enough, that way you have some control."

Mrs Lawrence could also be seen looking at Stephen's cap and jumper, complete with badges, from when he was a cub and scout.

She also leafed through some of his writings but said she could not bring herself to read them.

"I came across this. He did it on April 7, 15 days before his died he did it.

"I can't read it, I find it difficult, when I look at what he could achieve. I'm not ready to read this yet."