Four teenagers deny killing Damilola Taylor

Four boys accused of murdering the schoolboy Damilola Taylor appeared at a carefully modified court for the first time yesterday and denied killing or robbing the youngster.

In response to judicial recommendations made after the James Bulger murder trial, Court 12 at the Old Bailey in London had been made to look less intimidating for the defendants, one aged 14 and three aged 16.

The four were spared the dock, sitting, instead, with their legal representatives. In the coming days, they will be accompanied by a family member.

Sitting with their lawyers ­ who, like the judge, Mr Justice Hooper, were not wearing robes or wigs ­ the four spoke only to say the words "not guilty" to charges of murder, assault and manslaughter.

A jury has yet to be selected but, in its absence, the teenagers were invited to plead. In clear voices, each denied the attack on Damilola in November 2000. The Nigerian-born youngster was stabbed in the leg in Peckham, south London, and bled to death in a concrete stairwell.

As matters were discussed between judge and counsel, the youngsters regularly asked questions of their solicitors. Most of the hearing was taken up with legal arguments.

The court has been laid out with the judge's bench at the front of the green-carpeted and wood-panelled room. To the judge's right, in front of the jury seats, three of the four defendants sat at desks, one in front of another. The fourth was at the back of the court, behind the prosecution bench in front of what is usually the dock.

For the two to three months the trial will take, the dock will be occupied by 10 members of the media on a rotating basis.

The remainder of the press and broadcast corps will hear and see the proceedings via a video link to an annexe on the fourth floor of the building, again a measure introduced to spare the defendants the pressures associated with scrutiny from large numbers of journalists. The new measures were recommended by the Lord Chief Justice in response to criticism of the Bulger trial by the European Court of Human Rights.

At the back of the court yesterday, Richard Taylor, 55, Damilola's father, sat impassively. He is expected to attend the entire hearing. The case against the four youngsters is likely to be opened by the prosecution counsel Mark Dennis next Tuesday.