Stephen Lawrence’s killer requests a move to a new prison – where the remaining suspects are located

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David Norris is serving at least 14 years and three months after being sentenced to life in 2012 for the 1993 murder of Stephen Lawrence. He hopes to be transferred to an open prison

Stephen Lawrence’s killer, David Norris, has made an offer to move to an open prison as his minimum sentence for the racist murder nears the end.

His application was blocked by Justice Secretary Dominic Raab last month over concerns he still poses a risk to the public.

Norris, 45, was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum of 14 years and three months for the 1993 murder of 18-year-old Stephen in Eltham, south-east London.

Stephen was stabbed to death by a gang of thugs shouting “what, n*****?” while waiting for a bus with pal Duwayne Brooks.

Norris is being held at Category C Dartmoor Prison in Devon but had hoped to be moved in preparation for his release.

Sources confirmed that his application was denied by Mr Raab without referring him to the parole board for consideration.

A Justice Department source said: “The Justice Secretary is aware that high-risk offenders cannot move until they have proven they no longer pose a risk.”

He is legally entitled to petition the parole board for parole if he serves his minimum sentence in 2024.

Norris and Gary Dobson, now 46, were the only two of the five suspects jailed for police failure.

Dobson, who is being jailed for a minimum of 15 years and two months, is in the C HMP Warren Hill category in Suffolk and is believed to be eligible to apply for a move on open terms in the coming months.

At the time of the murder, Norris was 16 and living with his father in Chislehurst, Kent.

He was later caught in police surveillance video describing in extremely racist language how he would kill black people, people of Pakistani origin and police officers.

He said in a clip shown at his trial: “I would go down Catford [in South East London] and places like this, I tell you now, with two submachine guns.”

He spoke of torturing and setting fire to a black person, saying, “I would blow off two of their arms and legs and say, ‘Go on, you can swim home now’.”

In sentencing, the judge was restricted by law at the time of the attack, a decade before stricter sentencing rules were introduced.

Mr Justice Treacy, who jailed Dobson and Norris at the Old Bailey in 2012, admitted the sentences could be seen as lenient but insisted his hands were tied.

He told them, “In this day and age, an adult committing this crime would face a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years.”

Norris suffered a broken nose and rib at HMP Belmarsh in 2011, where he was being held on remand before his trial. He sued for damages and was awarded a £10,000 payout after the attack.

What happened to the rest of the gang

Neil Acourt, 46, was the leader of the knife-obsessed gang based out of the Brook estate in Eltham, south-east London at the time of Stephen’s murder.

He was jailed with Norris in 2002 for swerving his car at an off-duty black police officer and shouting “n*****” less than a mile from Stephen’s place of death.

He is believed to be back in the area after being sentenced to six years in prison between January 2014 and February 2016 for conspiring to supply cannabis resin with his brother.

Jamie Acourt, 45, had just been expelled from school at the time of the murder after threatening a black student with a fake pistol and beating up another.

He was sentenced to nine years in prison for the drug conspiracy in 2018 after two years on the run in Spain under an assumed name.

Luke Knight, 45, lived yards from where Stephen was murdered. He was suspected of taking part in the 1992 stabbing of Darren Witham with Norris and Jamie, but was never charged. It is understood he still resides in the Eltham area.