DAMI BLAST; Failed murder case slated.Byline: NATHAN YATES POLICE and prosecutors made a series of blunders in the hunt for the killers of Damilola Taylor Damilola Taylor (December 7, 1989 – November 27, 2000) was a Nigerian schoolboy who died in the UK. Early life Born in Lagos, Nigeria, he travelled to the United Kingdom in August 2000 with his family to allow his sister to seek treatment for epilepsy. , an inquiry revealed yesterday. A review of the case headed by John Sentamu John Tucker Mugabi Sentamu (born 10 June 1949 in Kampala, Uganda) is the 97th Archbishop of York, Metropolitan of the province of York, and Primate of England. He is the second most senior cleric in the Church of England, after the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the first member of , the Bishop of Birmingham, called for sweeping reform of the criminal justice system. The probe blamed flaws in the justice process for the failed trial of four youths accused of Damilola's murder and it made 23 recommendations for change. Yesterday, the murdered schoolboy's father, Richard, said: "We have not seen justice and we are still hoping that justice will be done." Backing his claim, the father of two teenagers acquitted of Damilola's murder has revealed that he believes they are guilty. Throughout their Old Bailey Old Bailey Noun the Central Criminal Court of England Noun 1. Old Bailey - the central criminal court in London criminal court - a court having jurisdiction over criminal cases trial Mohamed Miah, whose name has been changed for legal reasons, maintained they were innocent - but now, asked if he believes his boys - "A" and "B" at the trial - are guilty, he answered: "I think they are, yes." Damilola, 10, bled to death in a council block stairwell stair·well n. A vertical shaft around which a staircase has been built. stairwell Noun a vertical shaft in a building that contains a staircase Noun 1. in November, 2000, after he was stabbed near his home in Peckham, south London. The trial collapsed in April when the judge ruled there were gaping holes in the prosecution's case. The report into the murder inquiry recommended a "radical reform" of rules relating to the exclusion of evidence from the jury. It also highlighted the treatment and handling of vulnerable witnesses as an area of concern. The review identified the treatment of 14-year-old witness "Bromley" as a key failing. Her testimony was ruled unreliable after she was put up in a hotel, ran up a large phone bill at public expense and was offered reward money. Metropolitan Police commissioner Sir John Stevens said: "The lack of justice for Mr and Mrs Taylor and their family is a deep, tragic concern to me and the Metropolitan Police Service." The Crown Prosecution Service reporters@mirror.co.uk CAPTION(S): TRAGIC: Damilola Taylor |
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