Damilola Taylor Killer Jailed For Driving Into Police Officer

Ricky Preddie & Damilola Taylor

One of the killers of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor has been jailed for four years after driving into a female police officer.

Ricky Preddie was 13 and his brother Danny 12 when they killed the schoolboy in November 2000 in a crime that shocked the nation.

The pair were jailed for eight years for Damilola’s manslaughter in 2006.

Ricky Preddie, 32, also known as Ricky Johnson, is back behind bars after pleading guilty to causing serious injury by dangerous driving; driving whilst disqualified; failing to stop; and driving without insurance at Harrow Crown Court on Thursday.

Scotland Yard said he was sentenced to four years imprisonment and banned from driving for 12 years, which will start when he is released from jail.

He was driving an Alfa Romeo in Wembley, north London, when police tried to stop his car on the afternoon of November 6 last year.

Preddie stopped the car but reversed along the pavement before crashing into a police vehicle, causing leg and neck injuries to a Pc who was getting out.

He made his escape but the car was found nearby shortly after and he was arrested on November 12. 

Flowers from the parents, Richard and Gloria Taylor, of murdered 10-year-old Damilola, left while visiting the spot where their son was killed in Peckham. Police hunting the killers of the 10-year-old arrested two youths and a woman in connection with the murder. Detective Superintendent David Dillnutt told a press conference at New Scotland Yard that the arrests were made at 6am at addresses in Southwark, south east London. See PA News story POLICE Boy. PA photo: Sean Dempsey

This comes as Richard Taylor, Damilola’s father, launched his ‘Year of Hope’ campaign ahead of the 20th anniversary of his son’s death. The move is geared at raising awareness around knife crime and the safety of London youth.

   

Detective Superintendent Ray Keating said: “In escaping from officers who had pulled him over, Johnson’s driving was extremely reckless and resulted in an officer being seriously injured.

“He then drove off from the scene, callously leaving the officer needing urgent medical attention.

“The officer has since returned to full duties, and I would like to commend her courage and strength since the incident.

“While she has recovered physically, the incident has taken an emotional and psychological toll.

“Sadly, officers are injured whilst protecting the public far too often.”

Richard and Gloria Taylor, mother of murdered school boy Damilola who was killed in Peckham, south London November 2000, at a press conference in Scotland Yard to coincide with the release of an eight-month inquiry by John Sentamu, * ... the Bishop of Birmingham. The review made a total of 23 recommendations in relation to the police criminal justice system and prison service, and although the review acknowledged that the Metropolitan Police had moved on since the botched Stephen Lawrence inquiry in 1993, it made a series of criticisms, particularly of the way the Crown's 14-year-old child witness known as 'Bromley' was dealt with.

Damilola had moved to Britain from Nigeria a few months before he was jabbed in the thigh with a broken beer bottle by a gang of youths as he walked home from the local library after school.

The youngster was found bleeding to death in a stairwell near his home in Peckham, south London, where local workmen tried to save his life.

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