| Killing of Damilola Taylor | |
| Place: | Peckham, London, England |
| Verdict: | Guilty |
| Convicted: | Ricky Preddie, Danny Preddie |
| Charges: | Manslaughter |
| Convictions: | Manslaughter |
On 27 November 2000, ten-year-old Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor was killed in London, in what became one of the United Kingdom's most high-profile killings. Two brothers who were 12 and 13 at the time of the killing were convicted of manslaughter in 2006.
Damilola Olufemi Taylor was born in Lagos, Nigeria to Richard and Gloria Taylor,[1] both from the Yoruba ethnic group.[2] He attended Wisdom Montessori School in Ikosi, Ketu, Lagos before he travelled to the United Kingdom in August 2000 with his family to seek treatment for his sister's epilepsy.[3]
At 4:51 pm on 27 November 2000, Taylor set off from Peckham Library, south east London, to walk home.[4] Approaching the North Peckham Estate, he was attacked on Blakes Road with a glass bottle resulting in a gash to his left thigh and a severed artery. He was found in a stairwell on the estate and taken to King's College Hospital where he was pronounced dead.[5]
In 2002, four youths, including two 16-year-old brothers, went on trial at the Old Bailey for murder. The trial led to all four suspects being acquitted – two were acquitted on the direction of the judge after he ruled that the prosecution's key witness, a 14-year-old girl, was unreliable; and the jury found the other two not guilty. As well as questioning the reliability of the witness, the defence presented expert witness testimony from Alastair Wilson, associate clinical director at the Royal London Hospital, that Taylor's wounds were consistent with having fallen on a broken bottle whilst being attacked. This was disputed by the prosecution, who argued that Taylor would have had to "take off and fly through the air like Peter Pan" in order for Wilson's theory to be correct. Wilson also admitted that "he had not seen Damilola's body or been given other information about the death." Pathologist Vesna Djurovic maintained that Taylor "was stabbed deliberately [with a broken bottle] in the left thigh, probably while he was on the ground."[6] [7]
Despite the acquittals, police vowed to keep the investigation open. New DNA techniques employed by Angela Gallop and her team identified Taylor's blood on the trainers of Danny Preddie[8] [9] and on the sweatshirt cuff of his brother Ricky,[10] neither of whom were among the four original suspects. This led to a re-examination of the evidence obtained at the time of Taylor's death.[10] In 2005, fresh arrests were made, and 19-year-old Hassan Jihad and the Preddie brothers (aged 16 and 17) were charged with manslaughter. Due to their age, the Preddie brothers were not publicly named at the time of their arrest or during their trial.
On 23 January 2006, Jihad (then 21 years old) and the Preddie brothers (then 17 and 18 years old) appeared at the Old Bailey to face charges of his manslaughter and assault before the start of their imminent trial. The trial commenced on 24 January 2006. Wilson again testified that he thought that Taylor had died after falling on a shard of glass from a broken bottle.[11] After retiring on 29 March to consider its verdict, the jury cleared Jihad of all charges on 3 April. They were unable to reach a verdict on the charges of manslaughter against the two brothers, so they were released but with the possibility of a retrial on those charges.
The retrial of the two brothers began on 23 June. As they were by then over 18, they were publicly named. Both defendants were known to police, having committed multiple robberies.[12]
On 9 August 2006, the Preddie brothers were convicted of Taylor's manslaughter after a 33-day retrial. During the retrial it was noted that while police followed procedure collecting evidence, lapses occurred in the prosecution.[13] On 9 October, Mr Justice Goldring sentenced the brothers to eight years in youth custody for manslaughter.[14]
Although it was widely reported in the media that Taylor's parents were unhappy at the sentences, Goldring explained the sentence was determined by the age of the offenders at the time and that there was no evidence to suggest that there was premeditation. In addition, the bottle used had not been carried to the scene of the crime.
In May 2001, Richard and Gloria Taylor established the Damilola Taylor Trust in their son's memory, and which campaigns against knife crime.[15] Richard Taylor also dedicated his life to campaigning to improve the lives of disadvantaged children.[16] In 2008, Richard Taylor organised a march against knife crime which took place in central London and was attended by several thousand young people, and led by Brooke Kinsella, whose brother, Ben Kinsella, was stabbed to death.[17] In 2009, Richard Taylor was appointed as an anti-knife crime and youth violence envoy by Prime Minister Gordon Brown,[18] and was awarded an OBE in the 2011 New Year Honours for his services to campaigning for youth charities.[19] [20] Gloria died from a heart attack in April 2008;[21] Richard died on 23 March 2024 from prostate cancer.[22] [23]
Ricky Preddie was released on parole in September 2010, but recalled to prison in March 2011 for breaking the terms of his parole. He was released from prison again in February 2012.[24] In February 2020, Ricky Preddie (also known as Ricky Johnson) was again jailed. He had driven his car into a police officer, leaving her with serious injuries. Preddie pleaded guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving; driving whilst disqualified; failing to stop; and driving without insurance. He was imprisoned for four years for the crimes.[25]
Ricky Gavin Preddie and Danny Charles Preddie were born in Peckham, South London, to Alfred Preddie and Marion Johnson. Their father was a boxer from Jamaica who came to the UK during the 1960s. He later died in 2004, aged 53. The Preddie brothers joined the Peckham Boys gang in 1997 where their reputation began.[26]
Children's author Beverley Naidoo recalled how when she went to accept the Smarties Silver Award for her book The Other Side of Truth (2000), about two Nigerian child refugees, she heard the news of Taylor's death. As a result, she organized an ongoing donation of 10p to the Refugee Council from every book sold.[27]
Writer Stephen Kelman was nominated for the 2011 Man Booker Prize for his debut novel Pigeon English, inspired in part by the Taylor killing.[28]
Actor John Boyega, then 8 years old, and his older sister Grace were among the last people to see Taylor alive. They were friends and the Boyegas helped watch him.[29] [30]
The BBC programme Panorama aired a special on the death of Taylor in April 2002.[31] A 90-minute BBC dramatization of the events leading to his death and his family's search for justice, Damilola, Our Loved Boy, premiered in November 2016[32] and won the BAFTA Award for a single drama.[33]
In Black History Month 2020, Capital XTRA presenter Yinka Bokinni, a friend of Taylor, hosted a documentary about him for Channel 4 titled Damilola: The Boy Next Door.[34]
In 2020, 7 December was declared Day of Hope to mark two decades since Taylor's killing.[35]