Lawrence killer suing for £10k over attack in cell

ONE of the racist men who murdered black teenager Stephen Lawrence is suing the Government for £10,000 after he was beaten up in prison.

David Norris, 40, pictured, claims the authorities failed in their duty to protect him and took inadequate measures to assess the risks he faced. If successful, the case could end up costing the taxpayer £70,000 when l egal costs are added to potential compensation.

Last week Judge Charles Freeland, QC, granted Norris permission to proceed with his damages claim against the Ministry of Justice. Norris was jailed for life in 2012 for the racially motivated murder of Stephen, 18, in 1993. Norris was attacked in 2011 while awaiting trial on remand in Belmarsh, outh-east London, and needed 18 stitches to seal four wounds on his face.

He said he was targeted by three black inmates, who used a knife and sock full of tin cans, and was left with a hearing problem. Judge Freeland outlined the killer’s legal claim at the Central London county court. He said: ‘It is alleged he specifically requested he be returned to his previous location where he felt safe.’

But that did not happen and instead Norris was subjected to the savage attack in his cell. Norris’s lawyers claim no adequate risk assessment was made before moving him to a section with black inmates with a ‘propensity to serious violence’. The judge said the MoJ strenuously denies any breach of duty.

He ordered the county court should hear a trial of Norris’s claims later this year.

Norris is one of five men accused by the Daily Mail 20 years ago of murdering Alevel pupil Stephen Lawrence. Stephen was killed in a savage and unprovoked gang attack in Eltham, London, in 1993.

After failures by the police and the criminal justice system allowed the killers to escape unpunished, Norris and Gary Dobson, 41, were convicted in a second murder trial after a forensic breakthrough.

A third gang member Neil Acourt, 41, is in jail awaiting sentence over a cannabis smuggling ring and his brother Jamie, 40, is wanted for links to drugs crimes.

Luke Knight, 40, is the only ‘murderer’ still walking free in London.

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘We robustly defend all claims.’