Thug who killed ten-year-old Damilola Taylor is back behind bars for a fourth time
ONE of the thugs who killed ten-year-old Damilola Taylor is back behind bars for a fourth time since his conviction.
Ricky Preddie, 30, had been charged with two driving offences but failed to attend magistrates’ court for his trial.
He was later convicted in his absence and sentenced to six weeks in prison - plus another four weeks for skipping court.
Preddie is being held in category B Wormwood Scrubs, West London, but is due to be released shortly.
Ricky and his brother Danny, 29, were given eight years in 2006 for the manslaughter of schoolboy Damilola in November 2000.
The pair, aged 13 and 12 at the time, stabbed the lad in the leg with a broken beer bottle near his home in Peckham, South London.
But while Danny has largely stayed out of trouble since his release, Ricky has been a one-man crimewave.
Just six months after he walked free from prison in 2010, he was recalled for breaching his parole conditions by returning to Peckham.
In October 2011 he attacked another con while inside but the Parole Board still freed him in January 2012.
But he lasted just 16 days before being recalled yet again - this time for visiting Peckham and hanging out with former gang members.
He was released in July 2012, only to be jailed again in December 2013 for five months after being nabbed after a high-speed chase on a stolen motorbike.
Sources say the thug has tried to reinvent himself as Ricky “Johnson” - despite being easily identifiable after having an ear hacked off in a jail fight.
A pal said: “Ricky wants to move on but he just can’t help himself.
“The new name is a nonsense - everyone knows who he is and what he did.
“He’s back inside for a fourth time, but nobody would be surprised if that became five in the near future. He just can’t seem to escape his past.”
