Damilola bled to death in a stairwell in South London

During the trial a key witness was a 14-year-old girl, identified in court only as Bromley. Her evidence was thrown out of court after the judge ruled it was "unreliable".

During police interviews she had laughed and joked about the �50,000 reward offered by a newspaper and had also spent �4,000 at the police's expense during a stay at a hotel.

Mr Taylor believes that Bromley was a vital witness who lied only to protect herself from reprisals.

"We believe she saw the incident as it occurred - and there were probably lots of fibs attached to it in order to protect herself."

Richard and Gloria Taylor have been awarded �11,000 compensation for Damilola's death. Although the amount is the standard compensation, the award has been criticised as "derisory" by victim support groups.

Future

Mr Taylor also spoke about how the family are continuing to find daily life a struggle.

"Personally I feel that part of my life has been destroyed by going through all this," he said, "We cannot concentrate at home."

He explained that setting up the Damilola Trust has helped him to discover a new and unexpected purpose in life - to encourage and support disadvantaged youths.

The trust aims to help people from deprived areas to develop their interests and to study for a profession.

"Some groups of children are not allowed to fulfil their ambition," he said "They don't have the opportunity which will make them go for that, to study whatever their ambition is all about."