Brothers were no strangers to court
DAILY MAIL onine.25th APRIL , 2002.
The brothers acquitted of killing Damilola Taylor were no strangers to the Old Bailey.
Just six months before Damilola's death they were sent there by a juvenile court charged with indecently assaulting two girls.
But because the brothers were 14 and two other accused boys were 12, the judge ruled that he could not deal with the case - and had no authority to send it back to the juvenile court. The prosecution was then stayed.
It was one of the first cases to be dealt with following criticism of children being tried in adult courts by the European Court of Human Rights in the wake of the James Bulger trial.
The girls had complained to the police that they were attacked by a gang. The charge related to a "fairly minor incident" involving some fumbling over their clothes, according to sources.
The brothers were described as yobs and louts by the judge in the Damilola trial. He said their behaviour was "deeply unattractive".
In the days leading up to Damilola's death, the brothers were involved in a crime spree around Peckham.
They told police they had been stealing satellite boxes with other youths from a van on November 27 when Damilola was said to have been attacked.
They ran off with three boxes worth £400 each and had tried to sell them in the area for £50 each.
Also on the same day, they said they had been in a local shop when one of the brothers grabbed a telephone card and one of their friends had climbed up landings of flats to steal a bike.
After being spotted by a beat officer called "Policeman Bill", they ran off and arrived at a children's home in Abbey Street, Bermondsey, at around 4.45pm to see a girl.
Boy A said later that evening he had snatched a mobile phone from an African man on Tower Bridge. Police inquiries showed that although these incidents had happened they had been three or four days earlier.
The brothers also stood trial for a burglary at a flat on the North Peckham Estate said to have taken place eleven days before Damilola's death.
They denied stealing a gold watch and phone charger and intimidating a witness who had given a statement to police over the burglary but the case was dismissed at Inner London Crown Court in May, 2001.
The brothers did, however, have criminal records.
In January 2000 the older brother, Boy A, appeared at Southwark youth court and was given a six-month conditional discharge for taking a scooter and driving it with no licence or insurance.
Two months later he was sentenced to spend 18 hours at an attendance centre, again for taking a scooter.
In June 2000 at Camberwell youth court he was placed on an action plan order for three months after being caught going equipped to steal.
He was back at the same court two months later for theft and was placed on a supervision order for 12 months and a parenting order for three months.
He was also fined £30 for possessing cannabis.
In March 2001 he appeared at Southwark youth court for taking a scooter again and was given a four-month detention training order and disqualified from driving for 12 months. Six weeks later he was ordered to pay £50 compensation for assaulting a police officer.
His brother, Boy B, has a history of stealing cars.
In March, 2000 he was given a 12-month conditional discharge at Southwark youth court for taking a vehicle without consent.
Three months later he was charged with going equipped to steal a car, an offence committed while on bail.
Magistrates at Camberwell youth court gave him a three-month parenting order.
In August 2000, he was back at Camberwell youth court charged with theft and got a 12-month supervision order and three-month parenting order.
Four months later, at the same court, he appeared charged with damaging property and was ordered to an attendance centre for 18 hours.
Two other boys who were cleared earlier in the Damilola Taylor trial on the direction of the judge also had criminal records for offences including attempted burglary and theft.
One of them, Boy D, appeared at Camberwell youth court in 2000, when he was 13. He was convicted of common assault on another boy in Blakes Road, Peckham, where Damilola died, and was sentenced to a two year supervision order.
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