NEW scientific evidence will help show how two men murdered Stephen Lawrence in a racist attack, the Old Bailey heard today.

Gary Dobson, aged 36, and David Norris, 35, are accused of murdering the black 18-year-old who was stabbed twice on April 22, 1993 near a bus stop in Well Hall Road, Eltham.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison told the jury that Mr Lawrence and his friend Duwayne Brooks had been waiting for a bus at around 10.35pm when they saw group of five white youths approaching from across the road.

Mr Ellison said: “One of the group was heard by Duwayne Brooks to say ‘what, what n****r?’. At the same time, the whole group suddenly began to rush towards them.”

The court heard Duwayne Brooks told his friend to run but the group caught them at the junction with Dickson Road and “converged upon them.”

Mr Brooks managed to run away pausing when he reached the bus stop to shout ‘get up and run Steve’.

But, Mr Ellison said: “Stephen Lawrence did not manage to get away. The group quickly surrounded him. One witness described that he was swallowed up by the weight of numbers.”

During the attack Mr Lawrence was stabbed twice in the upper torso. Witnesses say they saw him get up and run for around 220 yards before collapsing on the pavement.

Mr Ellison said the defendants had been part of a group who “shared the same racial animosity”, attacking Mr Lawrence because of the colour of his skin, before running off.

Ambulances and police were called but Mr Lawrence was already showing no signs of life. He was declared dead shortly before midnight A post mortem later showed he died due to loss of blood from two severed arteries.

Mr Ellison told the jury they should forget what they had heard about a police investigation and a failed private prosecution by the Lawrence family.

He said the current trial was based on new scientific evidence discovered during a cold case review that started in 2007.

This evidence came from clothes taken from Mr Lawrence’s body and from the defendant’s homes.

Dobson and Norris, who claim the forensic evidence has been contaminated and is therefore unreliable, deny murder.

The trial continues.