Brothers accused of killing Damilola Taylor named

LONDON, May 19 (Reuters) Two brothers accused of killing Nigerian schoolboy Damilola Taylor were named yesterday after a court lifted a restriction preventing their identities being published in the media.

Danny and Ricky Preddie are accused of the manslaughter of the 10-year-old who bled to death in a stairwell on a rundown estate in Peckham, south London, in November 2000.

Prosecutors said Taylor died after being stabbed in the leg with a broken beer bottle.

The Preddie brothers, both from Peckham, were cleared of his murder by a jury at London's Old bailey in April but no verdict could be reached on the alternative manslaughter charge.

A re-trial was ordered and is due to start on June 21.

The brothers could not be named at the first trial because Danny Preddie had been 17 at the time and legally entitled to anonymity. His older brother could not be identified because their relationship would compromise that anonymity.

In April a third suspect, Hassan Jihad, was cleared of all charges, while in 2002, four youths charged with Taylor's murder -- none of whom are defendants in the forthcoming trial -- were also all acquitted at the Old Bailey.

Reuters SK GC0421