Damilola killer back in jail for crashing car into police
ONE of the killers of schoolboy Damilola Taylor is back behind bars after driving into a police officer.
In a crime that shocked Britain, Ricky Preddie, then 13, and his brother Danny, 12, stabbed Damilola, 10, with a broken beer bottle in November 2000.
Six years later the brothers received an eight-year sentence for Damilola’s manslaughter.
On Thursday, Ricky Preddie, 32, also known as Ricky Johnson, was jailed for four years and banned from driving for 12 years.
Preddie admitted a charge of dangerous driving, which seriously injured a police officer, as well as driving while disqualified, failing to stop and driving without insurance.
Harrow Crown Court heard officers tried to pull over Preddie’s car inWembley, northwest London, last November.
Preddie stopped, but reversed along the pavement and crashed into a police car as the PC was getting out, causing leg and neck injuries. He fled, but was arrested six days later.
Detective Superintendent Ray Keating of the Metropolitan
Police said: “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.”
Damilola, whose family had moved to Peckham, south London, from Nigeria, bled to death on a stairwell near his home after being stabbed as he was returning from the library after school.