PACKAGES containing the clothing of a suspect in the Stephen Lawrence murder case were put in the same bag as the victim's jacket, the Old Bailey heard today.

Gary Dobson, aged 36, and David Norris, aged 35, deny killing the teenager in a 1993 Eltham attack, claiming fibres linking them to the crime are the result of contaminated evidence.

Christopher Bower, who worked at the Met's forensic science laboratory in the 1990s, told the court that, after they were tested, he checked evidence bags were securely sealed and then sent them back to police in large plastic "overbags".

He said that on November 13, 1995, packets containing Dobson's jacket and cardigan had been placed in the same overbag as Mr Lawrence's black LA Raiders jacket.

Dobson's barrister Tim Roberts asked: "When you made a choice as to which packages should go into the same overbag together, what criteria informed that choice?"

Mr Bower replied: "There was no criteria. Random items from the same case would go into an overbag."

The barrister asked if Mr Bower's approach had been "everything that can be done has been done."

"Yes," Mr Bower replied.

"There's no continuing reason to keep these packages separate," Mr Roberts continued.

"That's right, yes," replied Mr Bower.

The court was also told how the packaged exhibits had passed through a number of hands since those scientific tests.

Detective Inspector John Carnt said that he could not remember taking out any clothing items from their packaging during a subsequent private prosecution in 1996 and an inquest the following year.

His civilian assistant at the time David O'Brien had recorded during the private prosecution that he had opened the evidence bag containing Dobson's cardigan.

But Mr O'Brien told jurors he could not remember if he had actually taken the garment out.

1997 saw Kent Police launch Operation Bridge - an investigation into complaints by Mr Lawrence's parents about the Met, rather than a re-investigation of the murder itself.

It saw all the packaged exhibits taken off to Kent from Shooters Hill police station in 10 overbags, and stored in two converted wardrobes at a house owned by the force.

But retired Kent Chief Constable David Clapperton told the court: "There was no need for anybody involved in our operation, Operation Bridge, to handle clothing."

Detective Chief Superintendent Deborah Doe recalled the exhibits lying "on top of each other" in the cupboards.

Before they were returned to the Met in January the following year, she had checked the packaging of the various items, including adding extra tape to seal the packets containing Dobson's jacket and cardigan, the court heard.

The trial continues.