Steven Lawrence - 2 racist UK men convicted of murder after 18 years

(AP Photo/Family Handout/PA)

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35,

LONDON - In a case that exposed racism and incompetence in Scotland Yard, two white men were on Tuesday convicted of the racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence. The conviction comes 18 years after Stephen was stabbed to death near a south London bus stop in an unprovoked attack that became a defining moment in race relations in Britain.

Gary Dobson and David Norris were found guilty by an Old Bailey jury after a trial based on forensic evidence. Scientists found a tiny bloodstain on Dobson's jacket that could only have   come from Mr Lawrence. They also found a single hair belonging to the teenager on Norris's jeans. Sentencing will be on Wednesday.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, had denied involvement in the knife attack on the 18-year-old at a bus stop in Eltham, southeast London in April 1993, by a gang of white youths.


"Had the police done their job properly, I would have spent the last 18 years grieving for my son rather than fighting to get his killers to court," said Lawrence's mother, Doreen, who said Tuesday's verdict was tinged with sadness.

The investigation -- which has seen multiple court appearances by suspects over the years but no convictions until now -- led to strong criticism of London's Metropolitan Police and resulted in an investigation that found the force was "institutionally racist" and had bungled evidence-gathering. It also led to a change in Britain's double jeopardy rules.
It has been one of the most notorious unsolved murder cases in Scotland Yard's recent history -- and police admit the investigation isn't over yet.

Lawrence, who had wanted to study architecture, was stabbed twice and bled to death as he stood at a bus stop with his friend Duwayne Brooks. He was attacked by a gang of youths and police say they believe others were involved in the stabbing.

"I do not think I'll be able to rest until they are all brought to justice," Lawrence's father Neville said in a statement read out by his lawyer after the verdict.
Arrests weren't made until two weeks after the murder. Then -- in 1996 -- three of the suspects -- Neil Acourt, Luke Knight and Dobson -- were acquitted.
Tireless campaigning from Lawrence's family -- and a change of government in 1997 -- helped keep the case alive, with Britain's left-leaning Labour Party commissioning a public inquiry into the murder and the police investigation.
The resulting report, written by William Macpherson, found that the police were "institutionally racist" and had failed to investigate Lawrence's murder carefully because he was black.

The Macpherson report led to a sea change in British race relations -- and breathed new life into the prosecution after authorities relaxed England's rules on double jeopardy, which say that a person cleared of a crime cannot be retried for the same offense.
Still, obstacles remained.

In 2004, prosecutors announced there was "insufficient evidence" to pursue anyone for the murder amid allegations of police corruption.
But new forensic evidence uncovered in 2007 helped save the case.
Scientists subjected the evidence to months of careful tests, retrieving fibers from clothing taken from the suspects. They found a single hair matching Lawrence's DNA and a microscopic blood stain invisible to the naked eye.
In 2011, a new trial was set up at London's Central Criminal Court.