Murderers! Gary Dobson and David Norris convicted of murder of Stephen Lawrence in a landmark conviction after 18 years

By STEPHEN WRIGHT

Gary Dobson, left, and David Norris went on trial for the murder of Stephen Lawrence six weeks ago. Both men denied the charge

Their son’s murder shamed Britain.
But yesterday Doreen and Neville Lawrence at last obtained a measure of justice when two thugs were convicted of their son Stephen’s appalling race-hate killing.
Nearly 19 years after the promising young student was stabbed in a South London lynching, they saw Gary Dobson and David Norris found guilty of the country’s most notorious unsolved murder.

Victim: Stephen Lawrence, 18, was stabbed twice after he was attacked by a gang of racist white youths in Eltham, South London in 1993

It was a triumph for the Lawrences, who have fought tirelessly for justice and who collapsed in tears when the verdicts were handed down.
After years of false hope, doomed prosecutions and the Macpherson inquiry into police racism which shook the Establishment, it took a predominantly youthful jury of eight men and four women just 12 hours to find the pair guilty of murder following a six-week trial at the Old Bailey.
Both Dobson and Norris had been named as suspects within 48 hours of the murder in April 1993.

Tearful: Doreen and Neville Lawrence leave the Old Bailey and speak to the media after Dobson and Norris were convicted of murder almost 19 years after Stephen was stabbed to death in South London

Battle weary: Doreen Lawrence prepares to speak to the media outside court as her son Stuart Lawrence, left, glances at her

But the pair dodged justice for years, relying on a climate of fear which allowed them to swagger around Eltham, south-east London, as if nothing had happened.
In 1997, the Daily Mail took the unprecedented step of naming them – along with fellow racists Neil and Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight – as Stephen’s killers and challenging the gang to sue the newspaper. They never did and last night his parents acknowledged the role the paper played in highlighting the injustice.


Brave: The Daily Mail's historic front page of February 14, 1997

The case was made possible only because of a change in the law which abandoned the ancient principle of double jeopardy, where a person cleared of an offence cannot be tried again. Dobson was prosecuted under the reformed laws, which allow acquitted suspects to be retried if ‘compelling’ new evidence emerges.
As part of our campaign, the Mail highlighted the need to overhaul the legislation. Neville Lawrence urged police to go after the remaining members of the gang who stabbed his 18-year-old son to death and challenged the two found guilty: ‘When you stand up to be sentenced today, provide the judge with the names of the other killers.’

In court: A sketch of Stephen Lawrence's parents Doreen and Neville sitting in close proximity to Gary Dobson and David Norris

A sketch of the packed courtroom as Mr Justice Treacy asked the jury for its verdict

Though he felt such relief at the verdicts that he ‘felt my heart would burst’, 69-year-old Mr Lawrence, who admits the strain of the case cost him his marriage, said he would not rest easy until all the gang were behind bars.
‘I still haven’t given up on the fact that we know some people are still out there. I have always said it would take a miracle to get any convictions, and I’m hoping that the miracle hasn’t finished yet.’
A ‘numb’ Mrs Lawrence, now a grandmother, said she telephoned Stephen’s younger sister Georgina, now 28, within minutes of the verdicts.

Murder scene: The bus stop at which Stephen Lawrence was killed in Eltham, London on April 23, 1993

Murder scene: This is the spot (circled) where Stephen Lawrence was killed in Eltham, South London in April 1993


Verdict: Gary Dobson's family leave the Old Bailey today after he was convicted of murdering Stephen Lawrence

source: dailymail