BBC Community Affairs Correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti assesses reactions to the new inquiry

The 30-year-old black musician was set alight in a north London street and died of his injuries 16 days later in February 1997.

The announcement followed Mr Straw's meeting with a delegation for Mr Menson, who asked him for an inquiry into how police handled the case.

They also want the investigation to be run by a force other than the Metropolitan Police.

Despite Mr Menson's repeated claims that he was attacked by a white gang, detectives assumed he had set himself alight in a suicide attempt.

Jack Straw: Family were confident that he would back their case

Scotland Yard later admitted that senior officers had made serious mistakes and in September an inquest jury decided that Mr Menson had been unlawfully killed.

The Police Complaints Authority launched an inquiry into the Metropolitan Police's investigation with Ben Gunn, the Chief Constable of the Cambridgeshire Constabulary, at its head.

The BBC's Penny Wrout talks to Michael Menson's brother, Kwesi, and Michael Schwarz, the family solicitor

Mr Menson, the son of a Ghanaian diplomat, had chart success in the 1980s with the band Double Trouble but he was later diagnosed schizophrenic, and was living in supported accommodation before his death.

Michael Schwarz, solicitor for the Menson family, said after the meeting: "It is very significant that Jack Straw met with the family.

"Both the family and Jack Straw are agreed that racism is unacceptible in society."

He said he also thought it was significant that the home secretary had told the family he would meet with them again if necessary, and that he would hand down their comments to the commissioner of police.