Stephen race murder suspect is jailed over £4million drugs plot

Stephen Lawrence, left, was murdered aged 18 by a gang of white youths at a bus stop in Eltham in 1993 A SUSPECT in the Stephen Lawrence racist murder was yesterday jailed for six years over a £4million drugs plot.

Neil Acourt, whose name had been linked to the death of the 18-year-old at a London bus stop in 1993, was described as the “man at the top” of a scheme funnelling huge amounts of cannabis to the North-east.

Acourt, 41, also known as Neil Stuart, of Eltham, south-east London, was given six years and three months at Kingston Crown Court in Surrey.

The judge, Recorder Paul Clements, described the plot as a preplanned effort to move cannabis “that in any estimation would have kept the people of the Newcastle area in spliffs for many a day”.

Acourt and his accomplices were involved in 600-mile round trips, delivering drugs from London to South Shields.

Acourt, a fatherof-one, Acourt kept the North in spliffs handled bundles of cash, ranging from £15,000 to £40,000. Acourt’s childhood friend James Botton, 45, father-in-law Jack Vose, 63, and family friend Lee Birks, 55, were all recruited into the plot. Vose was caught with around 220lb of cannabis resin in February last year. The four and two others had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply a Class B drug. Vose, of Bexley, Kent, and Botton, of Greenwich, south-east London, were each jailed for four years and nine months. Birks, of Orpington, Kent, had his sentencing postponed. In 2012, Gary Dobson and David Norris were convicted of murdering Mr Lawrence in Eltham and jailed for life. Acourt was also arrested but prosecutors dropped the case against him.