One of the men involved in the murder of Stephen Lawrence has applied for early release after serving just 12 years of his sentence.
David Norris was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years and three months after he and another suspect, Gary Dobson, were finally convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephen, 18, at a bus stop in south-east London in April 1993.
Stephen, an aspiring architect, was murdered on his way home with his friend Duwayne Brooks in an unprovoked attack by a gang of racists in Eltham.
Norris and Dobson, who was also sentenced to a minimum of 15 years and two months, are the only ones of the five or six attackers to have been brought to justice.
Norris has reportedly made a request for parole and a hearing is now expected to take place in the next few months, The Mirror has reported.
Despite having served just 12 years of his sentence, the 47-year-old has been able to apply for parole as the time spent he spent on remand means his minimum term will end in December this year.
Stephen, 18, (pictured) was murdered on his way home in an unprovoked attack by a gang of racists in Eltham, south-east London, in April 1993
David Norris (pictured) was sentenced to a minimum of 14 years and three months after he and another suspect, Gary Dobson, were finally convicted in 2012 of murdering Stephen
Norris and Dobson (pictured), who was also sentenced to a minimum of 15 years and two months, are the only ones of the five or six attackers to have been brought to justice
Stephen’s father Dr Neville Lawrence told The Mirror that he wants to be there at the parole hearing so he can face his son’s murderer.
He said: ‘I want to know if he has any remorse for what he did. If he is freed, is he going to live an ordinary life and not commit further crimes?
‘Is he sorry for what he has done? People in prison should show remorse seeing as these people have taken 31 years of my life.
‘He needs to say to the family he is sorry for the pain he has caused us. And he should say who else was involved, he should name them.’
The original investigation into Stephen’s death was hampered by institutional racism in the Metropolitan Police, and claims that corrupt officers had sought to protect Norris, whose father Clifford Norris was a notorious drug dealer.
Last June, the BBC named White, who died aged 50 in 2021, and outlined the bungled handling of the evidence against him.
Two witnesses said White had confessed to being present during the attack, one of whom, his stepfather, was not spoken to by police until 20 years after the murder because officers had previously misidentified him.
The Met said White was arrested twice in connection with the murder, but on both occasions there was not enough evidence for a prosecution.
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolitan Police, Sir Mark Rowley, issued an apology to Stephen’s mother Baroness Doreen Lawrence for not fulfilling a promise to answer questions stemming from the BBC investigation last year.
Stephen’s father Dr Neville Lawrence (pictured) said he wants to be there at the parole hearing so he can face his son’s murderer
Baroness Doreen Lawrence (pictured) was promised an explanation after the BBC last year named Matthew White as the sixth suspect in the case – decades after Stephen’s murder
Sir Mark previously admitted the force has ‘racists, misogynists and homophobes’ in its ranks – as Home Secretary Suella Braverman blasted ‘serious failings of culture, leadership and standards’ at Scotland Yard.
‘I had a frank conversation with Sir Mark Rowley today. He’ll be asking a separate police force to look into the assessment that the Met Police have made in relation to the fresh evidence.
‘I’m hoping that reassures the Lawrence family, Doreen in particular, that under the new leadership in the Met Police service, they will redouble their efforts to make sure that Doreen and the family think that this police service has learned the lessons from yesteryear.’
