Lawrence killer’s phone found by X-ray in prison

Officers search cell, then find device hidden inside his body

THE smartphone used illegally by one of Stephen Lawrence’s killers in his jail cell has been found inside his body after he was X-rayed at Dartmoor prison.

Officials discovered the device after investigating the Mail’s bombshell revelations that David Norris, 46, had used it to send messages and selfies to friends outside.

Specialist scanning equipment traced the phone in an intimate place after this newspaper tipped off the Ministry of Justice that Norris had been flouting strict prison rules.

Staff raided Norris’s cell on Tuesday evening while he was elsewhere. After failing to find the phone, they X-rayed him and the scanner revealed a ‘large rectangle object’ – later confirmed to be a smartphone.

Hours later, the phone was seized and is set to be examined by the Prison Service’s digital investigations unit to establish who the foulmouthed racist had secretly been in contact with from his cell on E Wing at Dartmoor, a category C prison.

Investigators want to establish whether Norris was in communication with active criminals outside prison, including those suspected of being involved in Stephen’s murder in 1993.

They will also want to find out who supplied the phone, and how it was funded. There are fears that a corrupt member of prison staff may have been paid to provide the device.

Sources have confirmed that the discovery of the mobile, which according to Whitehall sources was an HTC smartphone, will almost certainly result in the racist killer being denied parole when he is eligible to apply for release. They said experience suggested it will ‘decrease his likelihood of being released from prison’.

It is also likely to end Norris’s hopes of being transferred to a cushy category D open prison.

Last night Norris was being held in a segregation unit – effectively in solitary confinement – as inquiries continue.

The Mail has learned that he is set to be stripped of several privileges and could be transferred to a tougher, higher-security prison.

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘A phone has been recovered and we continue to investigate.’ Yesterday this paper revealed how Norris was facing a criminal probe after sending sickening selfies from his cell.

The killer – one of two men convicted of murdering 18-year-old Stephen in London – was using a smartphone to call and text friends, log on to Facebook and watch YouTube videos.

In a foul-mouthed WhatsApp rant this month, the unrepentant murderer launched a vile attack on former justice secretary Dominic Raab, who blocked his bid to move to an open prison.

He brazenly posted a picture of himself behind bars wearing Top Gun-style aviator sunglasses and with his TV and Xbox games console in the background.

A whistleblower said Norris bragged to fellow inmates that he was the gang member who stabbed Stephen to death. If true, this is a significant revelation because police are still uncertain who wielded the knife.

Five men were initially arrested over the racist murder. After an acclaimed campaign for justice by the Mail, Norris and Gary Dobson, 47, were jailed for life in 2012. Dobson was given at least 15 years and two months behind bars while Norris was told he must serve at least 14 years and three months.

Former Met Police detective chief inspector Clive Driscoll, who led the investigation which resulted in the pair being convicted, said in a statement: ‘I thank the Daily Mail for its continuous work in highlighting some of the weaknesses in our system.’

Steve Reed, Labour’s shadow

‘Crack down on illegal items in jails’

‘Bragged that he stabbed Stephen’

justice secretary, said: ‘More prisoners are abusing drugs and getting access to mobile phones than ever before.

‘It’s time the Government listened to victims and cracked down hard on the flood of illegal items pouring into jails.’

Lib Dem home affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael added: ‘We need to see an urgent inquiry into the use of contraband phones in our prison system.’

A Prison Service spokesman said: ‘Over the past two years, we have invested £125 million in transforming the way prisons prevent drugs and phones from getting in. From additional phone detection and blocking technology to the rollout of 75 high-resolution X-ray body scanners covering all male prisons, our prisons are more secure than ever before.’