Victim’s clothes held in bag with suspect’s

A JACKET belonging to Stephen Lawrence was stored in the same outer bag as clothing seized from one of the men suspected of his murder, a court has heard.

Christopher Bower, a stores worker at a forensics laboratory in Lambeth, south London, told the Old Bailey that it was not standard practice to separate victims’ and suspects’ exhibits after they had been examined by scientists.

Gary Dobson, 36, and David Norris, 35, deny taking part in the gang attack in which Lawrence was killed in Eltham, south-east London, in 1993.

The prosecution argues that tiny amounts of fibres, blood and hair found on clothes seized from their homes prove that they were involved in the murder of the 18-year-old student.

The defence says the samples got on to the clothes through contamination during handling and storage.

Bower told the Old Bailey that, when exhibits in the case were returned to police from the lab in November 1995, a cardigan and jacket seized from Dobson’s house were put in the same plastic sack as Lawrence’s black Raiders jacket.

However, all the items were sealed individually in paper evidence sacks, he told the court.

The jury was also told that at one point a knife found near the murder scene was put in the same outer bag as jeans seized from Norris’s house.

Again, the items were individually sealed in paper sacks within the larger plastic bag.

The case continues.