While walking home, shortly after midnight on 17 May 1959,[2] the 32-year-old Cochrane was set upon at the junction of Golborne Road and Southam Street by a gang of white youths, who stabbed him with a stiletto knife.

[2] His funeral procession on 6 June 1959, from St Michael and All Angels Church along Ladbroke Grove to Kensal Green Cemetery, was attended by more than 1,200 people.

[3][9] From 1959, activist Claudia Jones organised events to celebrate Caribbean culture "in the face of the hate from the white racists", which are seen as forerunners of the first Notting Hill Carnival in 1964.

[4] A BBC Two television documentary broadcast on 8 April 2006[2] covered the first visit by Stanley Cochrane to England that year to try to find out more about his brother's death and ask for a police re-investigation.

Steve Silver, who was in contact with the BBC researchers and wrote an article in Searchlight coinciding with the programme, later reported that he had heard from Kelso Cochrane's daughter in the U.S. and was able to put her in touch with her uncle.

[10] In the wake of a 2021 petition by Cochrane's family demanding an apology for alleged failings in the investigation of the murder, the Metropolitan Police confirmed that it was assessing historical material in connection with the case.

[3][15] In May 2023, a building in a North Kensington new homes development was named Kelso Cochrane House in his memory at a ceremony attended by his family, friends, campaigners and local community members.