I don't know this case in the UK, but perhaps some of you recall the mockery of a trail that happened around OJ Simpson. He also was acquitted in the criminal trial. I suspect the line "Senior judges ruled that the trial could go ahead even though Dobson had been acquitted following a 1996 private prosecution by the Lawrence family" offers a clue - this sounds to be the equivalent of a civil trial here in the U.S., when individuals or companies sue each other for various reasons. While the prosecution in the Simpson trial was evidently unable to prove the case, the civil case had a different set of standards to meet to find guilt and the Brown family won their suit and took Simpson to the financial cleaners.

I'd be willing to get that the "private prosecution" is the same and wouldn't affect a criminal prosecution.

Not a sad day at all for British Justice, if minority citizens finally begin see crimes against them prosecuted and generally treated as a serious matter.

SRS