Stephen Lawrence: Two Guilty of Murder

The two men accused of the 1993 murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence have been found guilty.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, both of south London were found guilty after two and a half days of deliberations by a jury at the Old Bailey.

Mr Justice Treacy will consider sentencing.

After 18 years, one failed police investigation, one failed private prosecution, and two inquiries since Lawrence was stabbed to death near a bus stop in Eltham, his family have finally seen justice for their son.

Before the jury considered their verdict, Justice Treacy warned them that emotions and sympathy had "no part to play" in their deliberations.

Shocking Video Footage and Witness Testimonies

During the trial, the courtroom was shown secret footage taken by police during the original 1993 investigation, in which Norris and Dobson used violent, racist language.

Norris threatened to kill "every black c**t [and] every Paki" that he knew.

Eyewitnesses to the murder gave their accounts of what happened.

Royston Westbrook, a hospital worker who was at the scene of the attack, said a group of white youths "swallowed" Lawrence after one of the mob said "What? What, nigger?"

"I saw them surround Stephen and he went down through sheer weight of numbers in the middle of them. It looked at the time that someone went to punch him," Westbrook told the court.

Duwayne Brooks, who was with Lawrence during the attack, broke down in tears as he recalled the night his friend was murdered.

"He jumps up and for a second I was relieved that nothing had happened and we ran up the road and we were running and he kept asking me to tell him what was wrong because he can't run properly," Brooks told the court.

"Blood was streaming out around his neck and through his jacket."

New Forensic Evidence

Fresh forensic evidence found using techniques unavailable to the original police investigation revealed tiny spots of Lawrence's blood on clothes seized from Dobson and Norris in 1993.

These traces of blood were discovered after a cold case review in 2007.

Changes to British double jeapordy laws meant that Norris and Dobson could face another trial despite being acquitted in 1996 after a private prosecution was brought by the Lawrence family.

The defence had argued that the clothing had been cross-contaminated after being mishandled by police in the original investigation.

The jury disagreed and the new evidence was enough to find the two men guilty of murder.