Two men to stand trial for Stephen Lawrence murder after court ruling

David Norris and Gary Dobson, whose 1996 acquittal was quashed by appeal court, charged with murder The parents of Stephen Lawrence, stabbed to death by a racist gang who “targeted” him because he was black, saw their 18-year campaign for justice for their son result in a court ruling that two men will stand trial for the murder. Doreen and Neville Lawrence witnessed the court of appeal clear the way for Gary Dobson, 35, to face a jury. The court’s permission was needed because Dobson had been acquitted of Stephen’s murder in a prosecution brought in 1996. Judges headed by the lord chief justice decided new forensic tests on Dobson’s grey bomber jacket and a cardigan had produced evidence that was compelling enough to quash his acquittal and see him stand trial for a second time. He will go on trial in November alongside David Norris, 34, who was a suspect in the original murder investigation but who has never previously been charged. The killing in 1993 in Eltham, south-east London, is one of the most high-profile unsolved murders in Britain. Lawrence was 18 and a talented student who dreamed of being an architect, when he became the victim of a gang that first shouted racist abuse at him, and then stabbed him. Lawrence’s death stood out for nearly two decades because of the effect it has had on race relations in Britain and the failings it revealed. The Met police bungled the first murder investigation and pressure from the campaign started by the Lawrence family led to a public inquiry, which found “institutional racism” had plagued the case. The news of the trial saw another landmark chapter for the family, police and the courts. The Met has launched a series of new investigations to try to bring the killers to justice. A fresh investigation began in 2006 and at its heart was a full review of the forensic evidence. By September 2010 the Crown Prosecution Service decided the police had enough evidence to charge Dobson and Norris for murder, but the news was kept from the public until Wednesday due to reporting restrictions on the media. A court granted the reporting gag after an application by the director of public prosecutions. The British legal establishment believes tight rules on pre-trial hearing are necessary to ensure a fair hearing. Dobson and Norris were remanded in custody after Wednesday’s court of appeal ruling, one of only a handful of times when the “double jeopardy” rule, which prevents defendants being tried twice for the same crime, has been overturned. The judges stressed that the defendants were entitled to a presumption of innocence. Outside court Doreen Lawrence struggled to contain her feelings. Flanked by her surviving son, Stuart, she said: “I’m really emotional now. I’m really pleased by the judgment that happened this morning. It’s been a long time in coming, but we still have a long way to go. At this moment in time, all I can think about is Stephen and that perhaps, somewhere down the line, we will get justice for him. It’s been a long time for us to get to this position.” As he left court, Stephen’s father, Neville Lawrence, said: “I am pleased now. I can relax. I was so tense last night.” The court of appeal heard the application to quash Dobson’s acquittal in March. On Wednesday it published a summary of its reasoning, written by the lord chief justice of England and Wales. The judgment says the murder of Stephen Lawrence was a “calamitous crime” and declares he was “a young black man of great promise, targeted and killed by a group of white youths just because of the colour of his skin”. Lawrence was murdered just after 10.35pm on 22 April 1993. He was waiting at a bus stop in south-east London with a friend, Duwayne Brooks. “As they waited peacefully for the bus, a group of white youths crossed the road towards them. One of the youths used abusive racist language. This was followed by a sudden and immediate attack, as the group converged on or charged at them,” says the judgment. Brooks escaped but Lawrence was stabbed twice. “Mortally wounded, Stephen Lawrence managed to get to his feet. He ran after Duwayne Brooks but after a little while, he collapsed on the pavement, and died shortly afterwards in hospital.” Counsel for Dobson, Timothy Roberts QC, argued new forensics were unreliable because they “are likely to be the product of contamination over the years; that is, by contact with Stephen Lawrence’s blood and his clothing”. This was “the result of outdated or incompetent storage or packaging or transporting arrangements”. The court of appeal said: “The present application depends on the reliability of new scientific evidence which by reference to the grey bomber jacket [found in Dobson's possession] and the multicoloured cardigan closely links Dobson with the fatal attack on Stephen Lawrence. “It does not and could not demonstrate that Dobson wielded the knife which caused the fatal wound, but given the circumstances of the attack on Stephen Lawrence – that is, a group of youths in a violent enterprise converging on a young man, and attacking him as a group – it would be open to a jury to conclude that any one of those who participated in the attack was party to the killing … “If reliable, the new scientific evidence would place Dobson in very close proximity indeed to Stephen Lawrence at the moment of and in the immediate aftermath of the attack; proximity, moreover, for which no innocent explanation can be discerned.” In a joint statement, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Metropolitan police said: “Our thoughts at this stage go to Stephen’s family, who have never given up their quest to see justice for Stephen.” Crime Vikram Dodd guardian.co.uk

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