How I helped trap Stephen Lawrence killers

Two men who murdered Stephen Lawrence were only brought to justice after a legal campaign by a top policeman from Shropshire, it emerged today.

Des Parkinson, from Telford, played a key part in overturning the 'double jeopardy' rule which previously prevented anyone acquitted being re-tried.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, were yesterday convicted of Mr Lawrence's murder, nearly 19 years after he was killed.

The pair were originally acquitted at a private prosecution in 1994 due to 'inadmissible' evidence and, as the law stood, they could not be re-tried. However the acquittal led Mr Parkinson and his colleague Brian McKenzie, now Baron Mackenzie, to fight to overturn the double jeopardy law.

Mr Parkinson, from Priorslee, was the National Secretary of the Police Superindendents Association of England and Wales and a policeman for 29 years before retiring in 1999.

He said: "I was working with Brian McKenzie when the initial private prosecution took place. It was clear something had gone very wrong and there had been an injustice. So we approached the government to change the law and when they didn't want to we started a campaign both in the police and in the media.

"In 2003 The Macpherson inquiry backed our view and said the law should be changed. We were delighted.

"It is only because of this that Dobson and Norris could face a retrial. The verdict is absolutely brilliant news. I'm very pleased for the family. They have fought so very hard for a long time and it's great they have some sense of justice.

"Secondly, it's good to see that the British legal system can change to meet the needs of justice."

Dobson and Norris were due to be sentenced today.

The starting point for Dobson and Norris's sentences is 12 years because they were 17 and 16 respectively at the time of the attack.

But judge Mr Justice Treacy said he would take into account the fact that the murder was racist.