David Norris appeal bid over Lawrence murder turned down

David Norris convicted of Stephen Lawrence's murder. Pic: Released by CPS in 2012

David Norris convicted of Stephen Lawrence’s murder. Pic: Released by CPS in 2012

An appeal court bid by David Norris, one of the two men convicted of the murder of Stephen Lawrence who was stabbed to death in Eltham in 1993, has been rejected at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Lord Justice Leveson, Mr Justice Foskett and Mr Justice Hickinbottom rejected an application to grant an adjournment and to release funds to enable his legal team to obtain expert DNA transfer evidence.

The DNA issue would have constituted the main plank of the challenge against the guilty verdict returned by an Old Bailey jury in January 2012.

At the time the Crown Prosecution Service said the trial had come about “after a lot of hard work and scientific developments.”

His co-defendant at that trial also convicted of murder, Gary Dobson, had previously withdrawn from the appeal process.

The judges said public interest in the case meant that they would release the detailed reasons for their decision next week.

Norris’s legal team argue that the conviction is unfair because it was not until towards the end of the presentation of the defence case that the full extent of the critical issue of DNA transfer become clear.

A “Free David Norris” website explores the DNA issue and argument.

A gang of five or six white young people set upon the 18-year-old A-level student in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993. He was hoping to study architecture at university and went to the Blackheath Bluecoat school.

Stephen Lawrence. Pic: copyright family of Stephen Lawrence

Stephen Lawrence. Pic: copyright family of Stephen Lawrence

An annual architectural award, the Stephen Lawrence Prize, was established by the Royal Institute of British Architects in his memory and the Stephen Lawrence Centre, was opened in Deptford in 2008.

A recent Crimewatch appeal resulted in the continuing Metropolitan Police inquiry receiving further information in the quest to bring more people to trial for the killing.

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