Stephen Lawrence murder suspect, 45, faces extra year in jail after failing to fork out £90k from £2.1m drugs plot

A STEPHEN Lawrence murder suspect is facing another year behind bars after failing to fork over £90,000 he made in a £2.1million drugs plot.

Jamie Acourt, now 45, will appear in the dock next month after a deadline to pay up passed over the summer.

PA:Press Association

Jamie Acourt is facing another year behind bars after failing to cough up £90,000 after his conviction for a massive drugs plot[/caption]

He had been warned to either hand over the ill-gotten gains – or face more time behind bars.

Acourt fled to Spain hidden in the back of a car in 2016 after he was told cops suspected he was the ringleader of a huge cannabis trafficking gang.

He’s one of five suspects named over the racist murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

Acourt spent two years on the run in Barcelona before he was finally jailed for nine years in 2018.

And now he faces even more time in jail after he failed to pay back tens of thousands of pounds, sources told the Mirror.

Back in January, Judge Peter Lodder told the defendant: “I find hidden assets of £90,000 in respect of which I make an order with a default of 12 months in prison.”

Acourt had until July to come up with the cash.

He is due to return to Westminster Magistrates’ Court for a Proceeds of Crime Act hearing on October 19.

His brother Neil Acourt, also a suspect in Stephen’s murder, was jailed for drug dealing as part of the same conspiracy.

Stephen, who wanted to be an architect, was murdered by a gang of white men in Eltham, London.

He’d been waiting for a bus with a friend when he was attacked.

Gary Dobson and David Norris were finally convicted of Stephen’s killing in 2011.

Former suspect Luke Knight is still living near Eltham.

SUSPECT DUE IN THE DOCK

And in August 2020, the Met Police declared the investigation into Stephen’s death “inactive”.

Commissioner Cressida Dick said she was sad the force had been “unable to secure any further convictions for Stephen, his family and friends”.

She added: “The investigation has now moved to an ‘inactive’ phase, but I have given Stephen’s family the assurance that we will continue to deal with any new information that comes to light.”

But Stephen’s mum Doreen said this month: “I don’t think the Met Police has any interest in this case.”

PA:Press Association

Stephen, who wanted to be an architect, was attacked as he waited for a bus with a friend[/caption]