One of the brothers who killed Damilola Taylor is to be freed next month, the Standard reveals today.
Rickie Preddie, 23, is due for release less than four years after being given an eight-year jail sentence for manslaughter.
Damilola, 10, bled to death after being stabbed with a broken bottle on a Peckham council estate in November 2000. Rickie Preddie was 13 at the time and his brother Danny, who was 12, is due to be released next year.
The death of the schoolboy at the hands of two members of a violent gang which terrorised the area caused a national outcry. Sentencing the brothers, the Old Bailey judge said neither had shown any regret or remorse.
Damilola’s father Richard today condemned the release, saying Preddie had not spent long enough in prison to be able to reform, and spoke of his fear that he would wreak new “havoc”.
Mr Taylor, 62, said his main aim now was to secure lasting reforms to combat knife and gang crime that would provide a fitting legacy for his son and ensure that the “sacrifice” of his life was not in vain.
He added: “I’m very disappointed because I haven’t been told anything. I hope that they have reformed, but I know that they’ve had access to communication with their friends from the past.
“Such a short time in prison is not enough after such a heinous crime,” said Mr Taylor, who set up the Damilola Taylor Trust in the wake of his son’s death to combat youth violence by promoting positive role models.
“It is just going to add to all the pain that I have suffered. But what I want now is to ensure that other young lives are not lost and that changes are made to offer positive opportunities to young people that will leave a proper legacy for my son.”
Damilola’s death attracted worldwide attention and became one of London’s most notorious youth killings. For Mr Taylor and his wife Gloria, who died in 2008, the years after his death brought further anguish in the courts.
An initial trial, involving four other youths collapsed in 2002. When the brothers were finally prosecuted in 2006 two trials were needed before they were convicted of manslaughter.
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