Tackling knife crime 'is needed now more than ever' says brother of murdered London schoolboy Damilola Taylor

Damilola was just 10 years old when he was fatally stabbed while walking home from Peckham Library on November 27, 2000.

The youngster’s brother Babatunde is now chair of the Damilola Trust, which was set up by their parents in the wake of the tragedy, and aims to support vulnerable youths to prevent them being groomed by gangs.

Babatunde, known as Tunde, says the charity is now dealing with issues that are “far more diverse” than at the time his brother was killed, the BBC reports.

A new BBC documentary, Damilola: The Untold Story, reveals the story behind Damilola’s tragic death.

Tunde says “it is very important" his brother's story is told for a new generation, with few younger viewers likely to be aware of the case.

"There's a whole generation of young people who were not around at the time and they get the chance to see him as a person, a young boy, his ambitions and how the tragedy cut that," he said.

"If they can think of that and think about the choices they're making then we will have actually achieved something positive."

Damilola was stabbed in the leg with a broken beer bottle and left to die in a stairwell in Peckham on November 27, 2000.

It took six years and three trials for brothers Danny and Ricky Preddie, who were 12 and 13 at the time of the stabbing, to be convicted of manslaughter.

The Metropolitan Police said the investigation was hampered by a wall of silence from the local community in Peckham and a lack of experience in dealing with children in gangs.

In the documentary, one of the schoolboy’s friends Star Wars actor John Boyega, recalls Damilola’s final months and the years of youth violence that followed his death.

He described how the police came to tell the Boyegas that Damilola had died, and Boyega recalls his sister’s “crying, screaming” reaction, adding that that he was “frightened out of my mind”.

“I didn’t know kids could die,” he said.

Following Damilola’s death, Boyega stayed at home much more.

He told the documentary: “I liked my room, I liked chilling in our house, in our flat. I would just draw, sketch or I’d be playing with action figures.”

“At least I’m safe at the end of the day. Damilola was a Nigerian like me, lived down the street with my parents, same textured hair as me. It could have been any one of us.”

The actor said that Damilola's death made him realise how quickly life could change, and encouraged him to pursue his own ambitions.

He said there were “no B, no C options” - from the moment of Damilola’s death, he pursued a different life, and received a scholarship to Theatre Peckham at the age of 10.

Damilola: The Untold Story airs is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.