Stephen Lawrence’s best friend wants to demand answers from killer David Norris face-to-face at his parole hearing.
Norris, jailed for life in 2012, has finally admitted he was part of the gang that attacked 18-year-old Stephen and Duwayne Brooks in 1993. He will now face a parole hearing, which will be held in public.
Duwayne, now 50, said: “I should be given a seat at this hearing and be able to ask questions. I want to ask him what has changed inside of him to now want to speak about what happened. I would say to him: If you’ve changed and you have deep remorse and you want to get this monkey off your back, then tell us who else was there and what they did.
“That’s the only way you free yourself. What you need to do is tell us who else was in the attack and what happened after. But also why? What is it that you guys saw about us that made you want to kill us on that day?
“Was it gang initiation? Was it just because of our skin? Or was it some kind of ritual you guys were involved in? What was it about us?”.
Duwayne also wants answers about the role of the Met, which was criticised as institutionally racist in the wake of Stephen’s murder. He said: “I’d also like to know who in the Met at that time was helping them, because we know they were given advice.
“And who helped him, who helped the gang, where did they dispose of their clothes and weapons? Norris has got to answer those questions.
“He has to spill the beans and tell us all, why, who else was there and what did they do? All of those things, he needs to tell us.”
A parole board report released on Thursday revealed Norris, 48, admits to punching Stephen during the horror attack at a bus stop in Eltham, South East London, on April 22, 1993. He insists he was not responsible for stabbing Stephen, who bled to death in the street.
Duwayne admits that coming face-to-face with Norris again would likely cause him to feel “extreme anger”. He has only seen Norris face-to-face once since the night of Stephen’s murder, when he gave evidence against him and his co-accused Gary Dobson in November 2011 during their trial at the Old Bailey.
Duwayne welcomes Norris’ admission, but admits he will never be able to forgive him and the rest of the gang. He said: “These people killed a part of me in 1993. There’s nothing about me that believes in forgiveness. Forgiveness is between you and God. It’s not for me to forgive.
“Steve was one of the greatest friends you could have and he lost his life in one of the safest cities in the world because of his skin colour. Time doesn’t make any difference to me, the pain is still the same.
“The anger I feel about the frustrations and the helplessness and the trauma, it’s all the same. It doesn’t matter if it’s one year or 32 years, it’s all the same. I feel like I’m constantly being punished, on all sides, for surviving.”
The Met botched the initial investigation into Stephen’s murder. Norris and Gary Dobson were jailed in 2012 after new forensic evidence emerged. Norris was given a minimum term of 14 years, three months. Gary Dobson, 48, the only other gang member to be convicted, received a minimum term of 15 years and two months.
They were both convicted under the law of joint enterprise, which allows people to be convicted of murder even if they did not inflict the fatal blow. Three other suspects – Luke Knight and brothers Neil and Jamie Acourt – have not been convicted and deny any involvement.
A sixth suspect, Matthew White, died in 2021. He was first publicly named as a suspect two years ago. At the time Duwayne told the Sunday Mirror he would have picked White out of an ID parade if he had been put in front of him at the time and accused Met Police officers of “sabotage”.On Saturday, the Mirror revealed police could now launch a fresh investigation into the murder. Duwayne wants to see all of the gang face justice.Duwayne is speaking out after Stephen’s dad, Dr Neville Lawrence, 82, called for Norris to name his son’s other killers. Duwayne said: “I hope Dr Neville Lawrence lives to see the rest of that gang go to prison.”
Duwayne also wants to see Norris and the other members of the gang convicted in relation to the post-traumatic stress injury he himself suffered after managing to escape the same fate as Stephen.
He said: “The police have no excuse now. He’s said he was there, he was part of the attack, they must prosecute him and anyone else he names, in relation to the attempted attack on my life. The police have never given an explanation as to why they weren’t prosecuted in relation to me.”
Norris was aged 16 and living with his mum and gangster dad Clifford in Chislehurst, Kent, at the time of Stephen’s murder. His mother Theresa Norris was accused of inventing a false alibi by telling the jury in her son’s trial he was at home that night.
Prosecutor Mark Ellison QC suggested to Theresa Norris that she had invented the story that her son David was at home when Stephen Lawrence was killed in 1993. He told the Old Bailey jury that this was “the first we’ve heard” of any suggestion that Mrs Norris could provide an alibi for her son, and as a result he suggested it was made up.
Mr Ellison said: “I suggest to you…you have made it up and it’s a recent thing that you have made it up.” In response, Mrs Norris protested: “I haven’t made nothing up.” Mr Ellison said: “There’s not been a breath uttered until today that you were in a position to give your son an alibi.” Mrs Norris answered: “My son would have been at home.”
Duwayne said: “His mum gave him an alibi saying he was at home on the night. She needs to be prosecuted because we need to send a message to all family members: ‘if you want to participate in lying in a court, then you should be prosecuted for perjury’.”
Norris is eligible for release in December. The Parole Board report said he “does not accept he holds racist views”, despite police surveillance footage from the 1990s in which he uses racist language to describe how he would kill black people, those of Pakistani origin and police..
In a clip shown at his trial, Norris said: “I’d go down Catford [in South East London] and places like that, I am telling you now, with two sub-machine guns.” Talking about torturing a black person and setting them alight, he added: “I’d blow their two arms and legs off and say, ‘Go on, you can swim home now’.”
Duwayne said: “Mr Norris wants to say that he isn’t racist. He may not be today, but at the time he was a racist thug, who carried weapons, and took part in murdering Stephen and trying to kill me.”
Duwayne remains frustrated with the actions of the Metropolitan Police, which was described as “institutionally racist” in 1999 in the landmark MacPherson Report into Stephen’s murder. He said: “I’ve gone through a process where everything I’ve said was denied. “Following the murder the police spent six weeks investigating Stephen and my background and were monitoring my movements using undercover police officers. These resources were being used on me, instead of to get the evidence to prosecute these racist thugs.”
He added: “The Met tried to cover this case up. Every failure in the investigation was classed as a genuine mistake rather than something that was done deliberately.
“My last interaction with the Met was in July last year. They agreed to share with me all of the information they had on suspect six, Matthew White, but today, they still haven’t kept to that agreement. It’s typical behaviour by the Metropolitan Police when it comes to this case.
“It’s all about doing whatever they can to run away from their responsibilities. They wear you down and every two or three years the lead officer changes and you’re back at square one.”
A Met Police spokesperson said today: “Our objective remains the prosecution of those responsible for Stephen Lawrence’s murder. We will keep the Lawrence family and their representatives updated.”
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.