John Boyega Was One Of The Last People To See Damilola Taylor Alive
‘Star Wars’ star John Boyega was one of the last people to see Damilola Taylor alive, it has emerged, appearing with the boy on the CCTV footage police used to appeal for witnesses to his murder.
Richard Taylor, father of the schoolboy who was murdered on the North Peckham Estate in 2000 aged 10, has told how his son, Boyega and Boyega’s sister Grace were 'so close’.
The actor has even nominated the Damilola Taylor Trust as one of the charities that will receive a share of £1.35 million from a charitable initiative set up by the movie, called Star Wars: Force for Change.
Speaking to the Daily Mirror, he said: “They were looking after him when he arrived in the UK, because they went to school together.
“The three of them were captured in the CCTV recording that the police used when they asked people to come forward to assist with the investigation.
“Grace became so close to Damilola - it was almost like boyfriend and girlfriend.
“They were the last to see him. They wanted to escort him home, but he said he was going to be OK. They left him by the junction then he went around the corner and the gang were waiting for him.”
In a crime that horrified the country, Damilola, who had moved to the UK from Nigeria just a few months before and was nearing his 11th birthday, was accosted by a gang of youths as he walked home from the library.
He was stabbed in his thigh with a broken bottle and bled to death in a stairwell near his home, on the same estate that Boyega grew up on in Peckham, south east London.
Brothers Danny and Ricky Preddie were convicted of his manslaughter in 2006, and sentenced to eight years in youth custody.
Continued Mr Taylor: “Recently there was an email from the US saying that John had nominated the Damilola Taylor Trust to receive a donation from the film’s launch.
“I was overwhelmed. It filled me with joy.”
He added that Boyega’s recent success starring in the new Star Wars movie has made him think what Damilola might have achieved.
“I thought: 'Oh wow, Damilola could have been working with him as an actor,” he said.
"Damilola was acting in primary school - in Christmas plays, school plays, reciting poems and all that kind of thing.”
Boyega immersed himself at Theatre Peckham, a local drama company, after being spotted by its director Teresa Early while appearing in a primary school play.
Image credits: PA
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