Eighteen years after Stephen Lawrence was killed in a racist attack in southeast London, Gary Dobson and David Norris have been convicted of his murder. As well as bringing a sense of closure, the convictions represent a significant legal milestone as a high-profile example of a conviction following the repeal of the ‘double jeopardy’ rule in England and Wales.
Before Part 10 of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 (CJA) came into force in April 2005, a person who had previously been acquitted of an offence could not subsequently be retried for that same offence, even if new or compelling evidence came to light. William Dunlop, for example, confessed to a police officer that he had murdered Julie Hogg in 1989. As he had already been acquitted in 1991, no further action could be taken. However, the subsequent changes made by the CJA allowed a retrial where new and compelling evidence emerged, regardless of when the offence took place. In 2006, Dunlop was retried and convicted of murder.
