Damilola Taylor's father mentored Woolwich murder suspect

 
Wire26 May 2013
WEST END FINAL

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The father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor has revealed that he had acted as a mentor to one of the men suspected of murdering Drummer Lee Rigby.

Richard Taylor told ITV News last night that he had mentored Michael Adebowale, who was known to his friends as Toby.

Asked about Wednesday's events, Mr Taylor said: "I was terribly shocked at what I saw that day.

"It's a different Toby or Michael that I was seeing that day. I don't believe it was anything Islamic."

Mr Taylor, whose son was just 10 when he was killed in the capital in 2000, said he had tried to help Adebowale after he was bullied at school and then became involved in drugs and gangs.

But he said that when he spoke to Adebowale two months ago, he told him that he had changed his ways as he had become a Muslim.

He said: "Having seen how my own son was stabbed to death, made me feel that... whatever happens, they will still be alive, they will still be on the street or maybe they will take them away from the public or change their faces. They don't deserve to live."

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