The brothers who killed Damilola Taylor were finally brought to justice today - after six years, three trials, £16 million and the heartache of two parents.

An Old Bailey jury took a day to find Danny, 18, and Ricky Preddie, 19, guilty of manslaughter.

One of them twisted a broken beer bottle in the ten-year-old's thigh before they left him bleeding to death on the stairwell of a council estate in Peckham, south London.

'Justice done for our son'

As the verdicts were read out today, Ricky Preddie started shouting at the jury: "You are corrupt. You are nothing."

His brother tried to calm him down when about a dozen guards surrounded them. But Ricky kept shouting.

"Take him down," the judge, Mr Justice Goldring, ordered.

Even after the 19-year-old was led out, his abuse could still be heard.

Damilola's father Richard sat calmly through the commotion. His wife Gloria only looked down, hand in cheek, at the sound of outcome she awaited so long.

Outside the court, Mr Taylor read a short statement: "We, the family, feel nobody can ever return our son to us.

"But it is a great comfort that justice has finally been done for Damilola. We pray that his gentle soul can now rest in peace."

The Preddies were first arrested days after Damilola's death on 27 November 2000.

The killing of the schoolboy, filmed on CCTV as he happily skipped home from a computer class minutes before being accosted by a group of boys, "shocked and outraged the nation" - in the words of prime minister Tony Blair.

One after the other, suspects questioned by police said: "Ask the Preddies."

Forensic clues missed

Yet forensic scientists missed vital clues, including drops of Damilola's blood and fibres from his uniform on the brothers' clothing. Danny and Ricky, just 12 and 13 at the time, were released without charge.

Damilola inquiries in numbers

  • Two police investigations
  • Three court cases
  • Five teenagers acquitted of all charges
  • Almost 7,000 people were researched
  • Over 2,000 witness statements
  • More than 1,600 messages to police
  • Cost to police: £4 million
  • Total cost, including trials: £16 million

Four other teenagers went on trial for murdering Damilola and were acquitted.

Richard and Gloria Taylor, who brought their son from Nigeria for a better life in Britain just months before his death, were distraught at the failure to catch his killers.

The Preddies were only re-arrested last year, after a second police investigation sent the forensic evidence to a private lab in Oxford.

The Met said the two investigations cost them £4 million. The total bill, including the cost of the three trails, is estimated at £16 million.

The new forensic team found a spot of Damilola's blood on the heel of Danny Preddie's trainer, and another on the right cuff of Ricky's black sweatshirt.

The blood on the trainer also contained a damaged fibre from the cut in Damilola's trousers.

More fibres from the Damilola's school jumper were found on Danny Preddie's hooded top, while fibres from both attackers' clothing landed on their victim's jacket.

It later emerged that the Forensic Science Service (FSS), the former Home Office agency that tested the evidence for the first trial, did not routinely check for fibres.

Despite the results, in April the Preddie brothers were cleared of murder and assault along with 20-year-old Hassan Jihad from Peckham. But a retrial for manslaughter was ordered after the jury failed to reach a verdict on the lesser charge.

Violent record

Apart from the forensic evidence, witnesses incriminating the Preddies were also called. A 21-year-old who cannot be named claimed Ricky Preddie, intoxicated with cannabis, told him after Damilola's death: "Yeah man, I did it."

The prosecution also highlighted the violent past of the brothers, both members of the local gang Young Peckham Boys. At the time of their re-arrest, both were serving sentences in youth detention centres. Their convictions included robberies, some at knife-point, the jury heard.

Their attack on Damilola might have been in revenge for a fight in which the boy broke Danny Preddie's gold chain, a friend of Damilola testified. The youth, now 18, said the brawl started when Danny asked Damilola for a cigarette before taking a swing at him.

Another police theory is that Danny Preddy wanted to rob Damilola of his distinctive silver "puffa" jacket. He had tried to rob the ten-year-old a few weeks earlier, the court heard.

A group of boys surrounded Damilola in Blakes Road on his way home to the run-down North Peckham Estate.

One of them - believed to be Ricky Preddie - broke a small, green beer bottle and jabbed it into his leg with a twisting motion. The aim was to hurt, not to kill.

But the glass slashed the artery in the slight boy's thigh. By the time he had stumbled up a staircase on the estate, he was almost dead. Carpenter Guillermo Casal followed his blood trail and held him as he breathed his last words: "I'm OK. I'm OK."

Inquiry ordered into missed clues

"Today justice has finally been reached for Damilola," said Commander Dave Johnston, Head of Homicide and Serious Crime.

"His violent death sent shockwaves throughout London and beyond. For his family it was a very personal tragedy played out in a very public arena."

Police were "of course concerned" that key forensic evidence was overlooked the first time around, he added.

The Met is now reviewing several other cases to check whether more clues have been missed.

The Home Office has also launched an inquiry into the errors at FSS later picked up by the private lab.

"It is important that the answers are found ... so that the public and the courts can maintain their confidence in forensic science," Mr Johnston said.