I cant help wondering if they really are guilty,the media always painted them guilty , they have always protested their innocence and were always free to do a runner , If I`d done it I`d have been off to South America or the Russian foreign legion!

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16141525

I know it's early days yet, but as far as I'm concerned, 2012 just gets better and better. It's taken 18 years too long for this pair of racist thugs to be convicted, now let's see if they can finally make something stick on the other 3 arrogant little b******s.

You can have nothing but admiration for the Lawrences.
I also see Dobson is currently in jail for drug offences.

Unbelievable that it took 18 years to bring those arseholes to justice. It was down to police incompetence and a belief all those years ago that a black man's life was less important than a white man's life.

That's the truth of it, whichever way you look at it. If Lawrence had been a white kid, the yobs would have been arrested immediately and the evidence would have been found at the time. But he was black and the police didn't try quite as hard.

A British tragedy, hopefully never to be repeated.

Interesting.

If the races of the people involved were reversed, I'd be interested in the reactions to a group of black men having their names and photos published in a national newspaper, then being pursued by the Met for a decade, despite having been previously 'acquitted' and then brought to trial because of 'significant new evidence', which turned out to be a 2mm piece of hair found after 15yrs?

How loud would the shouts of 'institutional racism' have been?

It was open to the 5 to sue the newspaper concerned. They chose not to. I wonder why?

They were not previously 'acquitted' - the trial against them collapsed because of technical mistakes on the part of the prosecution. Not at all the same thing.

There was the small matter of Stephen Lawrence's blood being discovered on the clothes of one of the convicted men, as well as hair.

Apart from the racism aspect, and it was nothing major in the sense that the crime was still investigated, there is also a question of police incompetence, which is again explainable.

Eltham is one of those places which traditionally has low crime levels, but it is near to places like Brixton where the amount of crimes committed on a daily basis is astonishing.

Naturally, the police concentrate their efforts on places like Brixton; it has massive accommodation for officers who are sent there because they are keen and competent to do a difficult job.

Once those officers are worn out, getting nearer to retirement, or just not up to the job any more, they're sent to places like Eltham, semi-retirement postings. They still know what to do, but are a bit slow in getting off their arses to do it.

When the phone calls started to come in telling them the names of the eight yobbos responsible, the handful of old timers in that tiny station at Eltham in the middle of the night, probably around three of them at the most, decided that it could all wait a few days before anything needed to be done.

They 'swooped' two weeks later, by which time the suspects had gotten rid of most of the evidence and got their stories straight.

Irrespective of race, colour, religion, a young life was lost needlessly because a few scrotes felt they could do what they wanted for kicks. Probably started off with cats and rabbits and were after "the big thrill".

It has been known for many years that they were talking about it publicly but no one has ever come forward - because they and their parents have a hold on the local public ?

Once the Met - and the CPS who are not innocent - can get their act together and ditch all their old ways and move with the public then perhaps there will be a few more cold cases resolved.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16403655

The judge, Mr Justice Treacy, said the crime was committed for no other reason than racial hatred.

Dobson will serve a minimum of 15 years and two months and Norris 14 years and three months.

The judge said the resulting sentences were lower than some would expect "but I am constrained by Parliament".

"The gravity of this case is high," the judge said. He said Mr Lawrence was completely blameless and helpless.

Mr Justice Treacy described the crime as a "murder that scarred the nation".

"I'm sure that you knew one of your group was armed with a knife that night," he told Dobson and Norris.

He said it was "a brief but coordinated attack, a racist taunt, a charge and a swallowing up of Stephen Lawrence".

"The evidence does not prove you had the knife, but the holder had it with your approval," he said. "It does not matter the knife was not in your hands. You - Dobson - repeatedly lied as part of group loyalty."

Mr Justice Treacy said the encounter was chance not premeditated but that Norris and Dobson were prepared to attack if the opportunity arose.

He said there could be no mitigation for contrition because none had been shown. He said the pair were streetwise and not immature when the crime was committed.

= = = = =

I would imagine they will now be going through the appeal procedure.

Nowhere near long enough, but of course the judge had no option but to sentence them according to the tariff set for youths as that is what they were at the time they committed the murder.

It made my day to read that the Norris creature had been attacked by an Asian gang whilst on remand in Belmarsh. I hope there will be more of that in store for them wherever they are sent to serve their sentences, they will not be so swaggering when it is them on their own facing a hostile gang. That will be the REAL justice as far as they are concerned.

In a similar story, did you see the chap they now have in custody for the Salford murder, He insists on being called "Phsyco Stapleton", Not the first to do this, they can't see how stupid they look.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16140710