Actor John Boyega recalled his early connection with Damilola Taylor, whose sorrowful death in 2000 surprised Britain and has shaped efforts against street crime in London since.
Boyega, known for his role in Star Wars, spoke openly for the first time about his upbringing with Taylor in south-east London. Their friendship was cut short when Taylor, aged only 10, was fatally stabbed while walking home. Before his passing, Taylor had recently moved from Nigeria to London.
In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Last Word, Boyega remembered the event as a “life-changing” turning point for him. He also disclosed that he and his sister were among the last people with Taylor.
“I just think from the hours we left him in Peckham to the hours from when I went home and then the police were at our door was definitely life changing for me,” Boyega told host John Wilson. “To be involved in that way, even in passing, makes you feel like you’re inches away from something so tragic.”
He continued: “We were literally just with him right before he went to the library. It was me, Grace, and Damilola, and Damilola basically went one route. And so we kind of split paths. And once I got home a few hours from then, you know, the police were at our door.”
The host asked: “What was your reaction when you heard?”
Boyega replied: “I was so young, but I just remember thinking I didn’t know that mortality works that swiftly, that the days kind of just went on and then somebody was gone instantly, somebody that I just saw, somebody that I just spoke to, but it was definitely hard.”
Fondly, the actor remembered Taylor as “vivid and charming.” Boyega said: “I just remember Damilola with a silver jacket running through the playground of Oliver Goldsmith Primary School… flirting with my bloody sister and just being around us and cracking jokes…”
“Do you ever imagine what sort of life he might be living now?” Wilson asked.
“I do imagine that he would have gone on to do some very great things and whatever his chosen field would be,” Boyega replied. “He’d definitely still be funny. But you know, I think that he would he would have grown up to being someone that is an important part of our community, just as I feel like I’ve been embraced by my community… I think that Damilola would have been right there.”
Boyega said that he was moved to address the friendship following the passing of Taylor’s father, Richard Taylor, who led a decades-long campaign against violent crime since his son’s passing and established the Damilola Taylor Trust in his son’s memory.
