Dobson ‘disgusted’ by racist footage
Gary Dobson, who is accused of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, says he is “disgusted and embarrassed” by his racist language recorded on police footage, and denies any involvement in the murder.
The jury at the Old Bailey was today shown a police surveillance video of Mr Dobson and David Norris from 1994 in which the accused make grievously violent, racist remarks.
Mr Dobson, 36, and Mr Norris, 35, deny taking part in the gang attack which resulted in Mr Lawrence’s death in Eltham, south east London, in 1993.
Mr Dobson today said he was “disgusted” and “embarrassed” by the language he had used in the surveillance clips, adding, “There’s not really much I can defend or justify.”
He said he had made up a story about threatening a black colleague with a Stanley knife because he was “being young and stupid”.
The video showed another racist outburst about an advert featuring black people, to which he responded: “I’m embarrassed by it to be honest with you. It’s not comfortable sitting there watching it. I had not seen it for 15 years.
“It’s not something I’m proud of and it’s certainly not the way I was brought up to speak either.”
Forensic evidence
One of the key pieces of forensic evidence in this case was found on a Supertramp jacket belonging to Mr Dobson. However the defendant said the last time he had worn the jacket was three years prior to Lawrence’s murder.
He said: “I wore it to school once or twice and had the complete mick taken out of me.”
Mr Dobson also claimed that another key exhibit in the case, a cardigan, belonged to his father.
As he was giving evidence, Mr Dobson was asked by Timothy Roberts QC whether he had anything to do with the events that led to the death of Stephen Lawrence. Mr Dobson replied: “No, I did not.”
He said he was at home all evening on April 22 1993, apart from going to visit his friends Neil and Jamie Acourt at about 11.45pm to borrow a Bob Marley CD and smoke a joint.
Police questioning was ‘nerve-wracking’
Mr Dobson said he heard about the murder when another boy visited the Acourt’s house, but that there wasn’t much talk about it afterwards, adding: “I would imagine we would have mentioned something about it but I don’t think there was much conversation about it at all.”.
When asked why he didn’t mention the visit to his friends’ house after the time of the murder, he said he didn’t think it was necessary. “It was quite a bit nerve-wracking, it was the first time I’d ever been spoken to by a police officer.”
In later police interviews, Mr Dobson repeatedly denied knowing co-defendant David Norris. Speaking to the jury today, he said: “The only reason I can give you for that, I stupidly thought people’s names I mentioned would be getting visits from the police. I stupidly denied knowing him.”
