Damilola Taylor’s killer led police on 50mph moped chase
One of Damilola Taylor’s killers who led police on a high-speed moped chase has been spared jail by a judge so that he can “show real responsibility” to his son.
Ricky Johnson Preddie was just 13 when he and his younger brother Danny stabbed Damilola, 10, to death as he walked home from the library in Peckham, south London, in 2000.
Preddie had previously been disqualified from driving until 2033 after he reversed into PC Natalia Trzeciak on the pavement to avoid a stop in Wembley, north-west London, in 2019.
The court heard he was on his way to West Middlesex Hospital to seek “urgent medical care” when police spotted him riding his cousin’s moped, which had already been reported for speeding offences.
They signalled for him to stop but Preddie, now 37, roared off down Chiswick High Road near Harrow, hitting speeds of 50mph through 20mph residential zones.
He weaved through a group of pedestrians on their way to a local football match as the chasing officers shouted at them to get out of the way.
Preddie careered through two sets of red traffic lights, then made an abrupt U-turn after being boxed in by a set of temporary road works and police cars.
He then crashed the moped into a riverside wall and jumped over the embankment before leaping 20ft into the water below.
‘He’s in the river’
The body-worn footage played to the court shows a policeman telling his fellow arresting officers: “Guys, he’s in the river, he’s in the river.”
Preddie then appears around the corner trudging through the shallow waters and offering no resistance to the arrest. He is heard telling officers that he has “just come out of hospital” and appears in the footage wearing a catheter.
Prosecutor Harriet Palfreman said: “On March 2 2024, officers noticed a blue Yamaha XMX – the motorcycle was travelling along Chiswick High Road in the direction of Kew Bridge Road.”
The court heard Ms Palfreman say that the police noticed that the Yamaha XCX had been previously reported for speeding offences. “They followed directly behind,” it was said.
“The vehicle went through a red light and made off at accelerated speeds of 50mph in an area which had a speed limit of 20mph.
“The vehicle continued, whilst being followed by a police officer, and went through another set of red traffic lights situated at temporary road works.
‘Lost control’ of the moped
“At this point, he has made a U-turn and headed back up the high street, during which time he was blocked by both temporary road works and lanes marked by the police cars.”
Preddie then “lost control” of the vehicle by “crashing it into the side of the road”, according to Ms Palfreman.
“He subsequently jumped over the road in an approximately 20ft drop into a river bank, and having run along the river and river bank he was detained at 2.50pm and arrested thereafter,” Ms Palfreman said.
For sentencing purposes, Ms Palfreman also directed the court to a previous dangerous driving offence committed by Preddie in 2019, in which he caused “serious injury”.
Natalie Turner, defending Preddie, told the court that her client was “bleeding from his catheter” at home and his decision to evade the police was borne of “panic” and “adrenalin”.
“He was on his way to the hospital because of complications he had received from this operation,” she said.
‘Panic and adrenalin’
“He knows that he should not have driven – of course he was disqualified. His account, as he’s put forward in the pre-sentence report, is that panic overtook him in that moment.
“He stated that the panic and adrenalin overtook his rational thinking at the time, and given the opportunity again he would not make the same decision as he did on that day.”
Ms Turner added that Preddie only “jumped into the reservoir” because he “wasn’t aware there was a long drop”.
She said he has a five-year-old son and was “very anxious to return to being a presence in his life” after spending 151 days remanded in custody.
Miss Recorder Amanda Pinto KC, sentencing Preddie, said that he was responsible for a “very serious piece of very bad driving”.
“You are 37 years old, you have 60 offences on your record before now,” the judge said.
‘People were put at risk’
“You were travelling at 50mph in a 20mph speed limit, and to say that the streets were crowded with pedestrians going to the football match nearby is an understatement.
“I was shocked to see how many people were put at risk from the way you were driving: you went through two red lights and you did a U-turn knowing perfectly well you were being followed by the police.
“The fact that nobody was hurt was sheer luck for you.”
She said that this offence, in tandem with the incident in 2019 when he “reversed intently so that an officer was crushed”, indicated a “pattern of complete disregard for anyone else but you when you are driving”.
Preddie was then sentenced to 12 months imprisonment suspended for two years.
Early guilty plea
He was given credit for his early guilty plea and was told by Ms Pinto that the suspended sentence was an opportunity to “show real responsibility to your son by being there for him all the time”.
Preddie, of Penge in south-east London, admitted driving a motor vehicle dangerously, driving while disqualified and using a motor vehicle without third-party insurance.
He was also sentenced to eight weeks imprisonment suspended for the other driving offence and given an obligatory 12 months disqualification from driving.
He was also ordered to complete 30 days of rehabilitation activity requirements and 240 hours of unpaid work in the community.