Still swaggering, the three who got away: Flash cars, designer clothes and loyal WAGs but, fancy that, no sign of working for a living



Their faces contorted with fury, the five original suspects in the Lawrence killing lashed out at a crowd jeering them after they gave evidence to a 1998 inquiry into police handling of the case.

Thirteen years on, the three who were not on trial with David Norris and Gary Dobson at the Old Bailey have lost none of their swagger.

Dobson was today sentenced to a minimum of 15 years and two months in jail and Norris a minimum of 14 years and three months.



But what has happened to the men who, in the eyes of many, have ‘got away with murder’?

Flashpoint: Neil Acourt (number 1) his brother Jamie (2) and Luke Knight (3) are among the gang who came out fighting after the public inquiry in 1998

NEIL ACOURT

The shaven-headed yob is an obsessive weight-lifter who still cuts a menacing figure in the Eltham area. Many locals believe the 36-year-old revels in his notoriety from the Lawrence case.

He can often be found drinking at the Red Lion on Shooters Hill, just a mile from where Stephen was killed, with his friends and sometimes his elder half-brothers Scott and Bradley Lamb.

One regular said: ‘He loves the attention – he knows people in there recognise him. After a few pints he gets quite loud and boisterous, and then he really plays up to his local fame.

Neil Acourt and his girlfriend Claire Vose: He has repeatedly been in trouble with the law. She is expecting their first child this month



‘There’s always a tense atmosphere because no one is quite sure what might happen if someone upsets him or annoys him.’

Back in the early 1990s, Acourt was a knife-obsessed racist who was not afraid to lash out at his perceived enemies.

Born in Greenwich, south-east London, in 1975, he was the son of a builder from the West Country (also called Neil Acourt), who was briefly married to his mother Patricia before returning to live in Exeter.

Although the smallest of the gang, Acourt was regarded by murder squad detectives as the leader.

At his family home a few minutes from the murder scene, officers found weapons including a knife, a Gurkha-type dagger and a sword.

Since the Lawrence killing Acourt has been repeatedly in trouble with the police.

In 2001 he was convicted of possessing an offensive weapon, a baton, which he claimed he needed for protection from revenge attacks.

The next year, he and Norris were each jailed for 18 months for a racist attack on an off-duty black detective.

Swagger: Neil Acourt leaving the 1998 public inquiry into the murder

Acourt was suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants through the Channel Tunnel. He and Dobson were arrested after their friend John Caetano was caught with seven illegals hidden in a Transit van. Dobson and Acourt were following in a car, but the case against them was dropped. Caetano was jailed for four-and-a-half years.

Despite his continued brushes with the law, Acourt has settled down with his girlfriend, renowned party girl Claire Vose, 33, with whom he shares a bungalow.

He drives around in a Mercedes jeep and Golf GTi.

Menacing: Neil Acourt pictured in a 1999 television interview

No one is sure what he does to earn a living but he always wears designer labels such as Fred Perry and Lacoste. Miss Vose is expecting their first child this month and recently posted a scan picture on Facebook.

She is close friends with Terri Dean, long-term partner of Neil’s brother Jamie. Another friend on Facebook is Charlotte Hunter, ex-girlfriend of Gary Dobson and mother of his 11-year-old son.

Intriguingly, Claire and Terri never make any mention of their partners on Facebook.

An insider said: ‘It’s as if the Acourt brothers have told them not to reveal any detail about them or their private lives on the social networking site.’

Back in 1999, Acourt told celebrity interviewer Martin Bashir during a controversial ITV documentary that he was not someone to mess with.

He said: ‘We’re seen in the public eye as murderers, big-time gangsters, just killers. We’re looked upon as scum.’

But he added: ‘If someone put trouble my way, I would not stand for it, simple as that.’

JAMIE ACOURT

The pressure of being a murder suspect almost drove the 35-year-old younger brother of Neil Acourt to start a new life in Spain with Terri Dean, mother of his two children.

Jamie Acourt feared he would remain under constant police surveillance if he remained in the UK and was ‘sick’ of being followed and watched.

His five-bedroom home in a London suburb went on the market for £354,495 in 2007, three years after he paid £227,000 for it.

Jamie Acourt and his girlfriend Terri Dean, mother of his two children: On Facebook she says she is in a 'serious relationship' but strangely omits to mention his name



But he decided against emigrating at the last minute because he and Miss Dean decided it would be too hard to be away from family and friends.

At that time neighbours said Acourt did not appear to have a full-time job but still managed to run a flash BMW sports car and an expensive Nissan 4x4 vehicle, and his partner drove a VW Golf.

They had also spent thousands of pounds improving and extending their home.

Free man: Jamie Acourt with fellow gang members at the 1998 public inquiry

On the birth certificate for his daughter, who was born in 1999, Acourt described himself as a steel fixer while Miss Dean put her occupation as ‘Training Adviser (motoring)’. The couple also have a younger son in primary school.

Today Acourt wears designer clothes, still has his hair greased back and rarely drives anything more than a year old. His latest vehicle is a £25,000 Vauxhall Insignia.

Neighbours say he often ‘disappears’ for days at a time and, despite no obvious sign of employment, enjoys day-long drinking binges at local pubs.

Since the Lawrence case, he has had only one conviction, when he and Norris stole empty soda siphons from a drinks warehouse in 1999. He was allowed to pay his £250 fine at £10 a week after the court heard he was living on disability allowance.

His estranged grandfather John Acourt, 76, who lives in the West Country, wants nothing to do with him or Neil.

He said: ‘Just because we share the same surname doesn’t mean we are the same sort of people. We don’t have anything to do with them.’



Acourt’s 32-year-old girlfriend can be seen posing provocatively in a series of pictures posted on publicly accessible Facebook pages.

On her Friends Reunited page, she describes herself as being in a ‘serious relationship’ but does not elaborate, adding that she is working at a hospital.

An acquaintance, who asked not to be named, said: ‘I know she’s frightened that one day the police will come knocking on her door and take Jamie away from her and the kids.

‘She doesn’t talk about Jamie and anything to do with the Stephen Lawrence case – it’s as if it doesn’t exist.’

On Facebook Miss Dean is friends with Gary Dobson’s ex-girlfriend Charlotte Hunter, his 11-year-old son and Dobson’s sister Hayley.

LUKE KNIGHT

More than any other member of the Lawrence gang, 35-year-old Knight has struggled to cope with his notoriety.

Several years ago he failed to persuade Greenwich Council that he should be rehoused because of intimidation. He claimed to be suffering from psychological problems after threats from anti-racist groups.

Whatever his inner demons, he has still managed to carve out a comfortable lifestyle for himself – he recently took delivery of a new £22,000 Nissan Qashqai off-roader and, dressed in a blue hoodie, beige chinos and Ugg-style boots, looks very much home at the wheel.

Luke Knight: Although out of work, Knight manages to drive top-of-the-range cars and lives in a smart terrace in New Eltham

Glamorous: Knight's partner, Belinda Harmer, has a hard line on immigration

Who would have thought that this seemingly respectable man approaching middle age once uttered the most appalling racist views in a covert police video.

As with the Acourt brothers, it is not clear what he does for a living. Sources say he routinely drives around roundabouts several times, in the mistaken belief he is being followed, and often double backs on himself when driving.

The son of a market trader, Knight was born in Southwark, south London, in November 1976. He has spoken publicly about the Lawrence murder twice, in a joint ITV interview with the other suspects in 1998 and at the public inquiry later that year.

But three years ago, in a previously unpublished interview, he broke his silence to declare: ‘I’m an innocent man. I’ve done nothing wrong. I’m totally innocent – I wasn’t even there [at the murder scene].

‘I have two little girls now. I have not told them about all of this. One day I will, I’ll tell them that I am totally innocent.

‘I’ve had 15 years of this – how do you think I’m coping? I can’t even get a job.’

That might be the case, yet he still manages to live in a smart terrace house in New Eltham, on a street which runs parallel with the one which houses his old friend Neil Acourt’s bungalow.

According to sources, he has maintained links with all the other gang members.

Over the past year he has been seen socialising with the Acourt brothers in and around Eltham, and was seen with them in a sports shop in nearby Welling looking to buy snooker cues.

Like the other Lawrence suspects, there is no trace of Knight on any online social network sites but his sister Lisa’s Facebook page shows some interesting groups which she supports. These include ‘If the England flag offends you, I’ll be happy to help you pack’ and ‘Eltham – Sticking together and making a stand’.

The latter features pictures and information from events in August when so-called protesters took to the streets of Eltham proclaiming they were defending the town from the threat of any rioters.

Knight’s whereabouts on the night of Stephen’s murder remained a mystery following the ITV interview with Martin Bashir in 1998.

Feeling the strain: Luke Knight, seen here in a 1999 television interview, has always maintained his innocence

Referring to racist views expressed on the police surveillance video, he said: ‘I mean, it’s embarrassing to watch yourself saying things like that. But the reason why I think I was saying things against black people was because I believed black people ruined my life at the time.’

Of footage of Neil Acourt stabbing a chair, he said: ‘Nothing was meant by it.’

Knight admitted being involved in fights at school.



‘I’ve never said I was an angel,’ he said. ‘But I’ve never used knives and I’ve never stabbed anyone or killed anyone.’

He attended Kidbrooke School with Jamie Acourt, but left a few weeks before the murder. Along with Dobson and Neil Acourt, he was formally acquitted of Stephen’s murder at the 1996 private prosecution and can be charged again only if compelling new evidence emerges.

In the spotlight: The main suspects - including Jamie Acourt (left), Neil Acourt (second left in striped shirt) and Luke Knight (front right) - arrive at the 1998 public inquiry into the police's handling of the case

His partner Belinda Harmer, 34, is one of the most glamorous of the Eltham WAGs.

On Facebook, her ‘activities and interests’ suggest she has a hard line on immigration. Her page also features ‘If the England flag offends you, I’ll be happy to help you pack.’