First Witnesses Speak Out at Lawrence Murder Trial

The first eyewitnesses are ready to produce evidence in the hearing of the two men accused of murdering a teenager, Stephen Lawrence, 18 years ago, reported The Sky News.

Lawrence was killed in Eltham at south east London in April 1993. However, eyewitnesses will present evidence at the Old Bailey.

The eyewitnesses include Lawrence's friend Duwayne Brooks, who was accompanying him at the bus stop, but managed to escape safely. Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, both from South London, are accused of the murder.

According to Sky News, "The jury has heard how a cold case forensic review found a previously undetected tiny stain of Stephen's blood on Dobson's jacket collar."

Prosecutor Mark Ellion QC said it was a billion-to-one match to Lawrence's DNA.

He mentioned to the jury that blood marks were not found when the jacket was first checked shortly after Dobson was arrested for a murder, as the blood had seeped into the jacket collar.

However, scientists applied the innovative, slow and costly technique involving a low-power microscope after the case was re-investigated in 2006.

The court recorded that some of Lawrence's hair was discovered in a bag which had Norris's jeans and seven fibres belonging to Lawrence were found on Norris's shirt.

Both Norris and Dobson have denied the charges, while their lawyers told the jury that their cloths had been contaminated during detention.