LONDON – A British judge has sentenced two men to at least 14 years
in prison for stabbing a black London teenager to death almost two
decades ago.
The murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence shocked
the country and came to be seen as a festering racial injustice. It took
19 years before anyone was convicted, and three other suspects remain
at large.
Gary Dobson received a 15 year and 2 month sentence. Norris is to be jailed for 14 years and 3 months.
Dobson’s father shouted out “shame on you” after the sentence was passed.
Judge
Colman Treacy said the sentences were shorter than many would have
expected as both men were teenagers when the crime took place. Treacy
said that an adult today convicted of a racist knife murder would get a
minimum of 30 years in jail, but as Dobson was 17 and Norris just 16 at
the time of the crime, he only had to give them a minimum of twelve
years.
He added extra time because of the racist nature of their attack and because neither had shown any remorse or contrition.
While sentencing Dobson and Norris, Treacy said the two belonged to a “racist, thuggish gang.”
Another three men had been initially arrested after Lawrence’s murder but have never been convicted of the crime.
The judge urged police to pursue the other members of the gang that killed Lawrence.
Police chief Bernard Hogan-Howe, commissioner of London’s Metropolitan Police, said the force would not give up.
“The other people involved in the murder of Stephen Lawrence should not rest easy in their beds,” he said.
