Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Lawrence suspects face jail for racist assault

Jason Bennetto,Crime Correspondent
Thursday 25 July 2002 00:00 BST

Two of the Stephen Lawrence murder suspects face up to two years in jail after being convicted yesterday of carrying out a racist attack on a black policeman.

David Norris, 25, and Neil Acourt, 27, described as two of five "prime suspects" for the stabbing of 18-year-old Stephen in 1993, swerved their car towards the off-duty officer and hurled racist abuse and a cup at him.

Norris then made an obscene hand gesture at Detective Constable Gareth Reid as they sped away from Eltham train station in south-east London – less than a mile from the bus stop where Stephen was murdered.

The judge at the trial at Woolwich Crown Court said he would sentence the pair to a jail term in August. In the racist attack, which occurred on 11 May last year, Norris, a passenger in a car driven by Acourt, threw a soft drink at Det Con Reid, who was not wearing a uniform, and shouted "nigger" as the policeman was walking home. Acourt drove the car at the 38-year-old officer. A jury took two hours to convict them of causing harassment, alarm or distress motivated "by virtue of one reason and one reason alone – his colour".

Norris, of Chislehurst, Kent, and Acourt, of Greenwich, south-east London, denied the charge.

During the three-day trial the jury was told that Det Con Reid heard shouting from a car at some traffic lights after he got off a train at Eltham. He recognised the driver and passenger as suspects from the Lawrence investigation.

The car raced out of the junction and drove towards the officer. He said: "The next snapshot I have is this arm, or the hand making a flicking motion and the [drinks] container coming out of the window. I could still hear laughter and I heard ... 'nigger'."

Norris said at the trial that he threw the cup because he "flipped" in a "moment of madness" brought on by nine years of persecution by the police.

After the guilty verdict, the two convicted men were remanded in custody to appear for sentencing on 27 August. The offence carries a maximum two-year jail term, although the men would be eligible for parole after 12 months.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in