Damilola case 'revealed bias of trial system'

The failed prosecution of four youths for the murder of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor was seriously undermined by a criminal justice system bias in favour of the defendants, an independent inquiry into the stabbing has concluded.

The jury was prevented from hearing potentially crucial evidence, including alleged "confessions" made by two of the suspects, which probably resulted in them all being cleared, a review of the case said yesterday.

Lack of police resources and a failure by officers to examine properly evidence involving the suspects' mobile telephones also hampered the investigation. The Metropolitan Police was also criticised for the way it dealt with the Crown's star witness, a 14-year-old girl, whose evidence was thrown out at the trial.

But a 54-page report into the case concerning the killing of Damilola, on a south London housing estate on 27 November 2000, broadly praised Scotland Yard, saying the force had learnt lessons from the botched inquiry into the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence.

The death of Damilola, who was stabbed in the leg with a broken bottle and bled to death on a stairwell in Peckham, caused a national outcry and highlighted the issues of bullying, youth crime and inner-city deprivation. He had arrived in Britain with his mother from Nigeria two months earlier.

Richard Taylor, Damilola's father, said yesterday that the criminal justice system that failed his son was "faulty" and needed to be changed.

A review, which was published yesterday, was set up into the investigation and prosecution of the case. The Crown Prosecution Service and Scotland Yard were criticised when two 16-year-old brothers were cleared of Damilola's murder at the Old Bailey in April this year. Earlier in the trial the case against a 15-year-old boy and a 17-year-old youth were thrown out after the main prosecution witness, a 14-year-old girl, was discredited as a liar.

The report said there should be greater trust in juries to consider all the evidence available. It said: "We believe that some of the evidence excluded from the jury in this case probably had a significant effect on the outcome of the trial."

The review, chaired by the Right Rev Dr John Sentamu, then Bishop of Stepney, with David Blakey, HM Inspector of Constabulary, and Perry Nove, a former commissioner of the City of London Police, highlighted several pieces of evidence that the trial judge, Mr Justice Hooper, refused to allow the jury to hear.

These included evidence from a social worker who said she heard a tearful confession from one of the 16-year-old brothers. The judge ruled that it was unreliable after the outreach worker said she did not believe the confession could be relied on. A second "confession" by another defendant, in which he allegedly admitted being present at the stabbing, was allegedly made while in custody, to a person who was also deemed to be unreliable.

A glass fragment believed to have come from the murder weapon was found in the shoe of one of the defendants, but it was ruled inadmissible because the suspect had visited the crime scene two days after the attack and may have been contaminated at that time.

The Met was congratulated for adopting recommendations after the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, on issues such as family liaison, community involvement and resourcing.