The grieving mother of suspected race-hate murder victim Lee Phipps today demanded answers for why her son's killer has not yet been caught.

It is exactly three weeks since the son of Barbara Yusuf-Porter was repeatedly stabbed by an as yet unknown attacker.

Today, Mrs Yusuf-Porter attended a 90-minute meeting at South Shields Town Hall with detectives leading the investigation.

After the meeting , the 53-year-old said she thought the police were making little progress and that her son would "still be alive" if Northumbria Police had properly investigated her family's previous allegations of racist harassment.

Mrs Yusuf-Porter, who is half Somali, said: "They talk about the Independent Police Complaints Commission and complaints in the past, but all we want is his killer to be found."

In 2004, Mrs Yusuf-Porter threatened to sue Northumbria Police, claiming the force had failed to properly investigate a long running racist campaign against her family.

On Thursday night, Norhtumbria Police's Assistant Chief Constable Kevin Mathieson said his focus remained on catching Mr Phipps' killer.

He said: "Our focus is centred entirely on finding the person responsible for Lee's murder.

"It would be unhelpful to enter public discussion about Mrs Yusuf-Porter's allegations at this time."

Leading the murder investigation is Det Supt Steve Wade, who attended the meeting to discuss the case with Lee's family.

Det Supt Wade said that the meeting had been an oppurtunity to update the family and added that a range of resources had been employed in their investigation, with teams of detectives, house-to-house officers, forensic scientists, scenes of crime officers, search advisors and planning, drawing and graphic specialists all involved.

Despite Mrs Yusuf-Porters criticism of the investigation, other members of Lee's family have praised the efforts of Det Supt Wade and his team.

Lee's father, Des, who lives in the Greater Manchester area, said: "We have been given a full update by the investigation team and I fully support the investigation by Northumbria Police.

"We are satisfied with the action which has been taken to date and the progress that has been made."

Mr Phipps' brother Gary added that the family had been in daily contact with the police.

He said: "I think the police are doing a fantastic job. Obviously some of the things we talked about in the meeting are confidential as they relate to the investigation, but we speak to the police on a daily basis about the investigation.

"I am 100% confident Lee's killers will be caught.

Mrs Yusuf-Porter believed that too much emphasis had been placed on examining her family and her previous complaints about the police, rather than the actual murder investigation.

She said: "I want the emphasis to be on catching my son's killers.

"Because I ask questions and want to get answers police think I'm a busy-body, but all I want is for my son's killers to be caught.

"It's three weeks since Lee died and the police don't seem to be any closer to finding them."