Stephen Lawrence case: David Norris and Gary Dobson to appeal against convictions

By
Stephen Wright

Last updated at 8:21 AM on 31st January 2012

THE two race-hate thugs jailed for murdering Stephen Lawrence are to appeal against their convictions, it emerged last night.

David Norris, 35, and Gary Dobson, 36, will claim that their six-week trial, which resulted in unanimous guilty verdicts, was unfair.

Their move, which will prolong the agony of Stephen’s campaigning parents Doreen and Neville, is expected to take the killers’ legal aid bill through the £1million barrier.

Gary Dobson (left) and David Norris are to appeal their convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the Court of Appeal revealed today

Gary Dobson (left) and David Norris are to appeal their convictions for the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the Court of Appeal revealed today

Dobson was ordered to serve a minimum of 15 years and two months, while Norris was given a minimum of 14 years and three months.

The verdicts were a victory for the Daily Mail, which for 15 years has campaigned for justice for the Lawrences.

In February 1997, we famously
published pictures of the five prime suspects – including Dobson and
Norris – under the headline ‘Murderers’ and challenged them to sue us if
we were wrong. No legal action was ever taken.

Sources said Norris will appeal on the basis that the use of a surveillance video in evidence was unfair.

In the video, shot 20 months  after
Stephen’s 1993 murder,  Norris was secretly filmed telling friends he
wanted to torture and kill black people.

The news will prolong the agony of Stephen¿s campaigning mother Doreen, centre, her ex-husband Neville, right, and her son Stuart, left

The news will prolong the agony of Stephen¿s campaigning mother Doreen, centre, her ex-husband Neville, right, and her son Stuart, left

In an appalling racist rant recorded
by a covert police surveillance camera, David Norris boasted he would
‘skin a black ****’ and ‘blow their two arms and legs off’.

Then, he said, he would tell them: ‘Go on, you can swim home now.’

Norris’s legal team are expected to
argue that the video was highly prejudicial, did not prove he was
involved in Stephen’s murder, and should not have been admitted as
evidence.

The video also showed Dobson using
violent, racist language. Over a period of 17 days in December 1994,
detectives heard him frequently use racist terms to describe black and
Asian people, jurors heard. Dobson was seen in one clip recalling a time
he threatened a black colleague with a knife.

It is believed the judge’s decision
to allow the surveillance video to be used as prosecution evidence is
one of the grounds for Dobson’s appeal, which sources confirmed has
already been lodged at the Court of Appeal.

Privately, detectives admit that the
decision to allow the video to be used – in the face of impassioned
pleas by defence lawyers – was a key moment in the trial.

Dobson and Norris were the first
people convicted over the fatal knife attack on A-level student Stephen,
18, by a group of white youths near a bus stop in Eltham, south-east
London, in April 1993.

Stephen Lawrence was murdered in April 1993 in what the judge described as a 'terrible and evil crime'

[caption

The truth finally caught up with
drugs-trafficker Dobson and South London gangster’s son Norris after a
trial which was made possible by a series of extraordinary advances in
forensic science and changes in the law.

The breakthrough came when a
cold-case team of forensic scientists were called in. They found tiny
traces of blood, hair and fibres on clothing seized from the pair’s
homes.

The defence claimed this was the
result of contamination, but that was rejected by the jury. Following
the duo’s convictions, the trial judge urged Scotland Yard to hunt down
the rest of his killers, saying ‘three or four’ of them remained at
large.

Minutes after handing out life
sentences to Dobson and Norris, Mr Justice Treacy called on detectives
to pursue the rest of their murderous gang.

In a strongly worded statement, the judge made it clear he believes officers should not ‘close the file’ on the case.

Afterwards, Stephen’s father Neville said he hoped Dobson and Norris would ‘give up the rest of the people’ involved.

The new phase of the marathon
Lawrence investigation is expected to focus on three of the original
five prime suspects, brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt and Luke Knight.

The botched original police
investigation into Stephen’s death was dogged by controversy, and
resulted in the Lawrence case costing up to £50million.

The subsequent outcry, led by the
Mail, resulted in radical changes in modern policing after a public
inquiry found the Met Police was ‘institutionally racist’.

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