Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 4:07 pm  

Norris and Dobson See you lads http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16347953

Norris and Dobson See you lads http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16347953

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:05 pm  

Two nasty racist killers locked up for life. Good to see justice finally done.

It's a disgrace it took this long. Stephen's father spoke at a union conference I was on in 1997, and he was hopeful then. To think it's taken another 15 years. He and others have tirelessly campaigned. I hope they get some kind of peace at last.

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:17 pm  

gulfcoast_highwayman wrote:

Two nasty racist killers locked up for life. Good to see justice finally done.

It's a disgrace it took this long. Stephen's father spoke at a union conference I was on in 1997, and he was hopeful then. To think it's taken another 15 years. He and others have tirelessly campaigned. I hope they get some kind of peace at last.

I heard him speak at a TUC conference I was reporting years back. Very moving. I subsequently met – for work – Doreen Lawrence too.

Their dignity was quite amazing.

The system, eventually, has done what it is there to do.

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:26 pm  

At last the bastds have got their comeuppance.

But didn't witnesses say it was a bigger group than two who killed Stephen Lawrence?
That being so, are there are others still at large who need banging up?

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:41 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

At last the bastds have got their comeuppance.

But didn't witnesses say it was a bigger group than two who killed Stephen Lawrence?
That being so, are there are others still at large who need banging up?

My understanding it that there was specific, new forensic evidence that pertained to two of the group.

The Met says that the case is not closed.

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 5:45 pm  

El Barbudo wrote:

At last the bastds have got their comeuppance.

But didn't witnesses say it was a bigger group than two who killed Stephen Lawrence?
That being so, are there are others still at large who need banging up?

There was a report in the late nineties that identified five prime suspects, three of whom had already been tried in a case which collapsed due to lack of evidence. Norris wasn't one of those but Dobson was.

Double jeopardy prevented a retrial. The double jeopardy rules were changed, with some protections to prevent abuses. New evidence against Dobson allowed him to be retried along with Norris, but no such evidence for the other two already tried. One has never faced trial.

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 6:11 pm  

I think justice has been seen to have been done but whether it has I am not so sure? What about the other three? Who actually committed the murder?

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 6:27 pm  

I think this case is far too murky and I think a line has been drawn so quickly underneath it that it has left others who may be guilty off

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 6:48 pm  

Lawrie L wrote:

I think this case is far too murky and I think a line has been drawn so quickly underneath it that it has left others who may be guilty off

I disagree on the "so quickly" – it's almost a generation.

But yes, I do understand why people might feel a tad suspicious.

As mentioned previously, the case remains open on the Met's books, apparently. This case was only possible – as I understand it – because of developments in forensic science and technology. Who is to say what may occur on those fronts in the future?

Re: Guilty at last : Tue Jan 03, 2012 6:55 pm  

Credit to Paul Dacre and the Daily Mail for not letting it lie.