Lawrence case: Four held over alibi allegations

Police investigating the murder of Stephen Lawrence have arrested the parents of one of the prime suspects over allegations that they gave their son a false alibi for the night the black teenager was stabbed to death.

Stephen and Pauline Dobson, both aged 45, were arrested at their home in south-east London yesterday morning, with two neighbours – a man and a woman in their 40s – over an alleged attempt to pervert the course of justice.

Police said they were suspected of providing a false alibi for Gary Dobson, one of the men acquitted of the murder after a private prosecution. The parents are alleged to have told police they were with their son at their home in Eltham – about half a mile from the bus stop where Stephen, aged 18, was murdered – on the night of the killing, 22 April 1993. The neighbours are suspected of supporting the alibi by saying they were at the Dobson family home and saw Gary there.

Stephen Dobson, a painter and decorator, and his wife and the two neighbours were interviewed by police yesterday at separate police stations.

At the family home, Gary Dobson, 26, looked shaken when he opened the front door yesterday, but declined to comment. At the time, he was one of five youths considered prime murder suspects, although two other men have subsequently come under investigation.

Five men were initially arrested in connection with his death but proceedings against two of them were discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service. Stephen's parents, Neville and Doreen Lawrence, then took out a private prosecution against the five suspects but the case against two of them was dropped at the committal stage.

Gary Dobson, Neil Acourt and Luke Knight were accused of murder but the trial, at the Old Bailey in April 1996, collapsed and the men were formally acquitted.

The other two suspects for the murder were Neil's brother, Jamie Acourt, and David Norris, police said.

A jury at the inquest into Stephen's death ruled that the teenager had been "unlawfully killed in a completely unprovoked racist attack by five white youths". A subsequent inquiry into the botched police investigation by Sir William Macpherson of Cluny concluded the Metropolitan Police force was guilty of "institutional racism".

Police have continued their investigation into the murder and have made a number of arrests but no one has been charged with any offence.

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "This investigation remains vibrant and officers from the team are keen to interview anyone who may have information relating to the murder or the events surrounding it."

Sir John Stevens, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, was asked in July this year whether he knew who killed Stephen. He said he did.

His comment followed an announcement by David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, that he planned to press ahead with plans to scrap the "double jeopardy" rule in murder cases under which defendants cannot be tried again even if they confess or police find new evidence.

Under the new system, senior judges would be able to order a retrial where compelling new evidence emerged, although few legal experts believe the five suspects will ever be brought to trial.