Outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London this week, the air was thick with anger, frustration, and a desperate call for justice. Baroness Doreen Lawrence, the mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence, did not mince her words. Facing reporters after two days of a public parole hearing for her son’s convicted killer, David Norris, she declared, “He is a coward. He refused to show his face. He needs to look me in the eye and tell me exactly what he did and why he did it.”
It has been more than three decades since 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence was stabbed to death at a bus stop in Eltham, southeast London, in a brutal racist attack that shocked Britain and exposed deep flaws in the country’s policing and justice system. Yet, as the parole hearing for Norris, now 49, unfolded on October 7 and 8, 2025, it was clear that the wounds remain raw and the fight for full accountability is far from over.
The hearing was streamed via video link to a room at the Royal Courts of Justice, with Norris choosing to appear only from behind. For Doreen Lawrence, this was another sign of his evasiveness. “He didn’t show his face. He needs to look me in the eye and tell me exactly what he did and why he did it,” she reiterated, her pain and frustration evident. The parole board’s decision, expected within two weeks, will determine whether Norris is released, moved to an open prison, or remains in closed conditions.
Norris, who was convicted alongside Gary Dobson in 2012 after a landmark Old Bailey trial that relied on tiny traces of forensic evidence, admitted during the hearing—publicly for the first time—that he was involved in Stephen’s murder. He described himself at the time as a “horrible, violent, racist” 16-year-old, caught up in a “gang mentality.” He confessed to punching Stephen as he crouched on the ground but denied wielding the blade that delivered the fatal blows. According to The Independent, Norris explained that the group never discussed the murder afterward, except to warn each other to “be careful of what you say from here on in, and it was never spoken about again.”
Yet, despite this admission, Norris refused to name the other four or five individuals involved in the attack, citing fears for his and his family’s safety. “There is one reason and one reason only, because I’m worried about the safety of my family,” he told the panel. He insisted there was “no group loyalty” or “criminal code” preventing him from speaking out, but Baroness Lawrence was unconvinced. “This person can name the other killers and says he would love to do so. The police must do everything in their power to obtain that evidence and bring all of Stephen’s murderers to justice,” she demanded. “This man owes me the truth and the Met owe me justice. The police now have no excuse not to act.”
Her calls for action were echoed by Stephen’s father, Dr. Neville Lawrence, who said, “Justice has not been done” if Norris is released without naming the other members of the gang. The frustration is compounded by the fact that, out of the five or six attackers believed to have been involved, only Norris and Dobson have ever been brought to justice.
The Metropolitan Police, for their part, have stated they remain committed to achieving “the arrest, prosecution and conviction of all of those responsible for Stephen’s murder.” Deputy Assistant Commissioner Matt Ward emphasized that the force had commissioned the College of Policing to conduct a thorough review of the investigations since October 2013. “The review is being conducted independently of the Metropolitan Police and we give it our full backing and support,” Ward said, adding that the focus would be on identifying any outstanding lines of inquiry that could reasonably lead to further suspects being brought to justice.
Throughout the hearing, Norris’s credibility and remorse were hotly debated. A prison psychologist, who had spent nine hours over five meetings assessing Norris, described him as an “unreliable narrator of his own life.” The psychologist testified, “He’s obviously very careful about what he wants to admit to.” He noted that Norris’s accounts of the attack were inconsistent, sometimes admitting certain details, sometimes retracting them, and at times appearing confused about dates and events. “I don’t know the answer to that, but I would say probably a combination of these,” the psychologist said when asked whether Norris’s unreliability was due to poor memory or deliberate rewriting of history.
The psychologist recommended that Norris was not safe to be released or even transferred to an open prison, citing his lack of racial awareness and the likelihood of using racist language during periods of mental ill health or frustration. The hearing also revealed that Norris had used racially abusive language in prison, including towards Muslim inmates, and had been involved in clashes—allegations he denied remembering. The psychologist concluded that, despite some progress, Norris “does not believe he has met the test for release or to be moved to open conditions.”
In contrast, a second psychologist, appointed by Norris himself, argued that he had made sufficient progress to warrant release or transfer to open conditions. She pointed to the 19 years Norris spent in the community before his conviction without being charged with further crimes, and suggested that his history of violence was not solely racially motivated but also included “football violence” and “postcode violence.” She acknowledged some “confusion in the narrative” of Norris’s evidence, attributing it partly to the pressures of the public hearing and his inexperience in such settings. Still, she maintained that, in her view, Norris’s violent impulses and racist attitudes had diminished to the point where “it wouldn’t be something which would emerge in the community.”
But Baroness Lawrence remained unconvinced. She reminded the panel of the infamous 1994 covert police recording—known as the Footscray tapes—in which Norris discussed how he would “kill every black c***” he knew. “Any person who expresses views like this and doesn’t recant is an obvious danger to society and must remain in custody,” she insisted. She also noted that Norris was moved back to a category B prison in 2022 after being caught with mobile phones and a screwdriver.
For Doreen Lawrence and many others, the parole hearing was a painful but necessary public reckoning. “It has been numbing and incredibly frustrating to sit and listen to him describe the murder of my son. But he is not telling the truth. He was and remains a liar. Only if he tells the full truth can anyone, including me, start to think he is truly sorry,” she said.
The hearing is set to continue in private, with a final decision from the Parole Board expected within 14 days. As the nation watches, the hope remains that justice for Stephen Lawrence may yet be fully served—and that the truth, long buried, will finally come to light.
