Stephen Lawrence
A group of white men "collided" with Stephen Lawrence before he was murdered, a court has heard. PRESS ASSOCIATION

A witness of the murder of Stephen Lawrence told the Old Bailey how Lawrence chatted about football with his friend, Duwayne Brooks, before a group of white men "collided" with him.

Royston Westbrook, a hospital worker, was near the scene at south London in 1993 when 18-year-old Lawrence was stabbed to death.

"The two black boys, Stephen and Duwayne, were standing right by the bus stop. They were kicking about, they were talking about football... they were just generally chit-chatting," he said at day two of the trial, according to PA.

Westbrook was on his way home from work when he saw the attack.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, are both accused of murdering Lawrence, though they deny the charges.

The first day of the trial heard how a gang of racist white youths "swallowed" Lawrence after one of the mob said "What, what, nigger?".

Lawrence and Brooks were debating whether to catch a bus at the stop they were by, or walk to another nearby stop, according to Westbrook.

As they walked away, they were attacked.

"They just collided - that's what it looked like. They were just heading towards each other and that was it," Westbrook said.

"They grabbed Duwayne Brooks' wrist but he turned his wrist and just pulled away. Duwayne ran towards the bus stop where we were standing and turned round and shouted something like 'Leg it, Steve' or 'Run, Stephen'."

Brooks got away, but Lawrence was forced to the ground.

"I saw them surround Stephen and he went down basically through sheer weight of numbers in the middle of them... it looked at the time that someone went to punch him."

One of the group went to give Lawrence "a good kick", but Lawrence managed to struggle free and follow Brooks down the road.

"I did not see any weapon and thought the gang had only managed to punch Mr Lawrence," he said.

"It was so quick, it really was quick - it was about 10 seconds - and my impression going away from that was that they managed to punch him and that was it."

Once Lawrence had got away, the four or five white youths walked off.

As Westbrook caught the bus shortly after, he recalled seeing Lawrence on the ground as the vehicle passed, and a "commotion" around him.

"From my viewpoint, it was a completely unprovoked attack. They did nothing to justify it."

A youth who got on the bus with him, and who claimed to know either Brooks or Lawrence, said: "It looks like they got him because he was black, doesn't it?"

London