Danny and Rickie Preddie found guilty in 2006.
I knew two white kids called John and Danny. They seemed reasonably likeable Scottish teens.
John got involved with gangs and stabbed someone to death. Danny got involved with gangs and stabbed someone to death.
John and Danny lived on a large neglected housing estate. I never saw any police on the streets. It was said that the police and the local authority were corrupt.
In 2005, a UN report labelled Scotland the most violent country in the developed world, with people three times more likely to be assaulted than in America. (Scotland tops list of world's most violent countries - Times Online)
Under a new SNP government, with better policing, crimes involving handling offensive weapons dropped by 11% in 2007-08.
London is not so lucky.
London's "housing estates are almost unpoliced" wrote Simon Jenkins in The Sunday Times on 5 October 2008. (Boris has staged a democratic coup and should be thanked for it )
Damilola Taylor, aged 10, bled to death on a stairwell on a rundown housing estate in Peckham, in London, in 2000.
We remember TV pictures of some of the police who were supposed to be part of the murder investigation. They appeared to be smirking.
The police seemed to go out of their way not to catch those responsible for Damilola's death.
The pitiless culture of the Damilola killers is spreading
A lifestyle of casual violence, complete with uniforms, is taking root on urban streets in the UK, reported Stuart Wavell in an important article in The Sunday Times (UK) on 15 October 2006.
Wavel wrote:
The lawless gang of which Danny and Ricky Preddie were members when they stabbed 10-year-old Damilola in November 2000 continues to wreak mayhem...
This does not say much for the effectiveness of the London police or the Labour government.
Wavel continues:
Mike Presdee, head of criminology at Kent University, has studied the Peckham Boys and other teenage gangs over many years.
He says they talk about their street confrontations in terms of unscripted drama performances which they improvise...
Their father, Alfred, emigrated from Jamaica to Britain in 1966 to become a shopkeeper and married twice, siring many children before his death in 2004.
Their mother, Marion, was described as a fiery woman of Jamaican origin.
The boys dropped out of school and were effectively left to fend for themselves.
Yes, fathers are important. Yes, upbringing is important.
The cruelty such children inflict on vulnerable youngsters not only enlivens their dull lives, but reflects society’s increasing insensitivity to violence, Presdee believes.
“Most of us have seen someone killed through the media. Vicarious experience is no longer enough.”
Yes, the media must take a lot of the blame for the spread of violent crime.
Wavel continues:
The psychotherapist Camilla Batmanghelidjh has observed the metamorphosis of individuals and the escalating level of violence during the 11 years since she founded Kids Company...
In her experience, the process begins in infancy with a disruption to the loving relationship with a maternal figure that develops those areas of the brain responsible for social behaviour.
“It could be that the maternal carer is very stressed or drug-addicted, so she becomes desynchronised with the child.”
Yes, mothers are important.
Wavel continues:
Add constant exposure to abusive situations and a state of terror sets in.
“These kids will tell you that they can’t calm down. They can’t sit still or sleep, and need action. They find it very difficult to concentrate at school.”
Damilola
The government scientist could not see the blood.
Some years later, a private testing company could see the blood.
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Damilola Taylor, aged 10, died in 2000.
In 2006, a forensic scientist, Sian Hedges, told the court she did not know how she missed a spot of Damilola Taylor's blood during the murder inquiry back in 2000. ( Scientist missed Damilola 'clue' )
The blood was 'on the heel of a trainer''.
That blood was found in 2004, when an inquiry into Damilola's death reopened.
The trainer is alleged to have belonged to one of the Preddie brothers.
Ros Hammond, of private testing company Forensic Alliance, said she saw the bloodspot with her naked eye, and had found it on a photograph taken by Ms Hedges, once it was enlarged.
"It seems they had not identified the blood staining," Ms Hammond told the Old Bailey.
The spot of blood, which appears to have fallen from above, was less than a centimetre wide.
Ms Hedges, who worked for Home Office agency the Forensic Science Service, told the trial she had found two blood spots and tested the rest of the trainer, but found no other blood.
She said: "I performed the tests as they are in my notes. I do not have any other explanation."
Shown the trainer in court, she agreed she could see the blood stain on the heel.
The prosecution said the new evidence pointed "with certainty" to the participation of the three accused in the attack on Damilola. Reportedly, spots of blood and fibres linked three youths to the killing of schoolboy Damilola Taylor.
2002
In 2002, four youths went on trial for the murder of Damilola.
The trial led to all four suspects being acquitted.
The judge ruled that the prosecution's key witness, a 12-year-old girl, was unreliable.
April 2006
Two teenage brothers were found not guilty of the murder of Damilola Taylor at the Old Bailey on 4 April 2006 but the jury could not reach agreement on the lesser charge of manslaughter. On 3 April 2006, Hassan Jihad was found not guilty.
August 2006 : The Preddie Brothers were found guilty of Damilola's death . Danny and Rickie Preddie were convicted of manslaughter.
The Preddie brothers, 12 and 13 at the time, were arrested a few days after Damilola was killed but were released without charge. One brother was on probation and the other was on bail and detained at a children's home.
The Preddie brothers were re-arrested when the blood and fibres from Damilola were found on their clothing.
The jury heard they had convictions for robbery, some at knifepoint, and witnesses claimed the brothers had confessed to the killing.
In the Damilola case the police have been accused of racism and of not carrying out an effective enquiry.
The innocent Jean Charles de Menezes, shot dead by government agents on the London Underground Now Black police officers are calling for a Metropolitan Police boycott
On 5 October 2008, the Black Police Association urged a recruitment boycott of the Metropolitan (London) Police.
The Black Police Association claim that the London force has "a hostile atmosphere where racism is allowed to spread”.
This is a public challenge to Sir Paul Stephenson, the Met's deputy commissioner and the favourite to succeed Sir Ian Blair who has been sacked.
Sir Paul recently told Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur, who has accused the organisation of racism, to “shut up” and get on with his job.
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