Father of murdered Damilola Taylor reveals second heartbreak after realising boy he mentored became evil killer of Lee Rigby
Killer Micheal Adebowale was helped by Richard Taylor's charity from the age of ten
DAMILOLA Taylor's dad suffered a second heartbreak after realising that a boy he had mentored went on to become one of Lee Rigby's murderers.
Michael Adebowale, 25, received a life sentence for brutally killing Fusilier Rigby outside the Royal Artillery bases in 2013, citing revenge for the death of Muslims by the British Armed forces as the motive.
But Richard Taylor, whose ten-year-old son Damilola was killed as he walked home in 2000, revealed that he had tried to help Adebowale from childhood.
Richard had met Adebowale aged ten, when he was known as Toby, and began mentoring him through his charity which works with inner-city children.
The two had stayed in contact, and Richard had last seen him just weeks before he would go on to murder 25-year-old Lee.
Richard told the : "I first met Toby when he was ten. His mother stopped me in the street. She said, ‘Are you Richard Taylor, can you help my son?’
“He told me he was being bullied. Just like Damilola.
“I talked to him many times. The last time was about a month before the Woolwich attack.
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“He told me he had become a Muslim and he was doing well. But his mother said there were still serious problems. I told her to call the police.”
Just weeks later, Adebowale and Michael Adebolajo, 32, ran the soldier down with a car and attacked him with knives and a meat cleaver.