Damilola report blames human error
Friday, 18 May 2007 12:55
Damilola Taylor was fatally stabbed in 2000
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Government forensic scientists failed to find crucial evidence while investigating the murder of Damilola Taylor because of "human failures", an official inquiry has concluded.
Danny and Rickie Preddie, aged 18 and 19, of Peckham, south London, received eight years in jail in last year's retrial of the Damilola case.
Ten-year-old schoolboy Damilola Taylor was fatally stabbed to death in a Peckham estate stairwell in 2000 and an initial trial in 2002 did not result in any convictions.
After last year's retrial home secretary John Reid asked Alan Rawley QC and forensic expert Professor Brian Caddy to conduct an inquiry into the Forensic Science Service's failed analyses of the evidence - shoes and clothing – in the case.
Reporting their findings today, the pair write: "Our conclusions… are that there was no systemic failure in the operations of the FSS; there were however human failures in implementing the operating procedures of the FSS which brought about the failure to recover crucial evidence.
"It is appropriate… to note that no scientist however experienced or skilled can ever be guaranteed to find the evidence sought. Searching with the naked eye, with appropriate lighting, with microscopic aids and with the application of chemicals yields the right results
in nearly all cases. But sometimes, due to human fallibility, there is failure."
Home Office minister Joan Ryan said in a written ministerial statement today the human errors which had been made were "extremely regrettable".
"I would… like to express my sincere apologies to Damilola Taylor's family and acknowledge the further distress this has undoubtedly caused them," she added.