Next month marks 26 years since the killing of 10-year-old Damilola Taylor prompted a wave of grief and incredulity across the UK. Damilola had arrived in London from Nigeria just a few months earlier, with his mother, Gloria, his brother, Tunde, and his sister, Gbemi. His father, Richard, remained in Lagos, intending – like the patriarchs of many diasporic families – to join his wife and children at a later date. But that reunion would never come.
On 27 November 2000, while en route from the local library to the family’s home on the North Peckham Estate in south London, Damilola was set upon by the brothers Ricky and Danny Preddie, 13 and 12 respectively. He was attacked with a glass bottle, severing the femoral artery in his left leg, and was found bleeding heavily in a stairwell. Shortly after, Damilola was pronounced dead at nearby King’s College hospital.
