EIGHTEEN years after he was knifed to death in a racist attack, two men have finally been convicted of murdering black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

Mr Lawrence’s parents Doreen and Neville were at the Old Bailey to see their son’s killers Gary Dobson and David Norris found guilty of the crime today.

Dobson shouted as he was taken down to the cells: "You have condemned an innocent man here, I hope you can live with yourselves."

His mum Pauline yelled out from the public gallery: "He didn't kill that man."

Both Mr Lawrence's parents began to weep after the verdicts were read out.

Speaking outside court, Doreen Lawrence said: "All I can feel is relief.

"(Stephen) was a bright and beautiful young man and a wonderful son.

"Hopefully now he can rest in peace."

Following the family’s own failed private prosecution and a public inquiry which sent shockwaves through British policing, it took a cold case review and a spoonful of microscopic evidence to finally secure the conviction.

Mr Lawrence, 18, had been waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham, when he was chased and stabbed to death by a gang of five youths on April 22, 1993.

His friend Duwayne Brooks, now a Lewisham councillor, told the trial how the gang had approached them, saying: “What, what n****r?”

Mr Brooks managed to get away but his friend was set upon by the group with punches and kicks, before being left with two knife wounds in his torso.

Prosecutor Mark Ellison said: “The group quickly surrounded him.

“One witness described that he was swallowed up by the weight of numbers.”

The Blackheath Bluecoat pupil, from Plumstead, managed to get up and run for around 220 yards before collapsing on the pavement.

Mr Brooks attempted to flag down cars for help, but by the time ambulances and police arrived at the scene, Mr Lawrence was already showing no signs of life.

He was declared dead shortly after midnight and a post-mortem later showed he died due to loss of blood from two severed arteries.

Both defendants had denied being at the scene when the murder took place.

Dobson is already serving a five-year sentence for drug dealing while Norris has previously been convicted of a race hate attack in which a car was driven at a black police officer.

Both men are due to be sentenced tomorrow.

NEW SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE

The entire prosecution case was based on a cold case review which began in 2007, applying new scientific techniques to clothes seized from Dobson and Norris shortly after the murder.

These were shown to have traces of fibres from the dead teenager’s clothing – clear evidence, it was claimed, of transfer during the attack.

The key finding against Dobson was a tiny spot of blood on his bomber jacket matching Mr Lawrence’s.

There were also 16 fibres on his clothing and in the evidence bags they were kept in, which matched the victim’s own.

The evidence against Norris, consisted of two hair cuttings matching Mr Lawrence’s along with seven clothing fibres.

Defence barristers for the two men had argued that the clothing exhibits were unreliable, having been at risk of contamination in the years since the murder took place.