Damilola pair lose sentence appeal

12 April 2012

Two teenage brothers convicted of the manslaughter of schoolboy Damilola Taylor have lost appeals against their sentences of eight years' detention.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal in London rejected argument that the sentences imposed on Danny Preddie, 18, and Ricky Preddie, 19, of Peckham, south London, who were aged 12 and 13 at the time of the killing, were too long.

The pair, who were convicted of manslaughter at the Old Bailey last year, were present in the dock of the court for the ruling.

Lord Justice Latham said the courts had to send out the message that "violence of this sort will be punished severely and that will be the case even where the offenders are young".

The courts needed to "impose sentences which have a significant element of deterrence".

He added: "There is no other way that the courts can reflect the need to ensure the streets of this country are as safe as possible."

Earlier, the same judges threw out an application by Danny Preddie to be allowed to challenge his "unsafe" conviction.

The pair, who lived near Damilola on the North Peckham estate in south London, had denied killing the 10-year-old by jabbing his leg with a broken beer bottle in November 2000, but were convicted by a jury in August last year after a retrial.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in