EVERY police officer working in Peckham knew Ricky and Danny Preddie, even though they were aged only 13 and 12 at the time Damilola was killed.

One officer said: "They were the scum of the earth.

"Whenever there was a robbery, one or other of the Preddies was involved."

The brothers were brought up by a single mother and gained a reputation for violence.

They were prominent members of the Young Peckham Boys, the street gang terrorising the tough North Peckham Estate at the time Damilola was killed.

Just a few months before the stabbing, the Preddies went on trial at the Old Bailey charged with indecent assault.

They were accused of attacking two girls, aged 10 and 12, in a park in 1999. Another pair of brothers, who went on to stand trial in 2002 for Damilola's murder, were alongside them in the dock.

The case collapsed on a legal technicality. The judge threw it out because it should have been dealt with by a youth court.

The Preddies used their freedom to build up shocking records for violence.

Danny Preddie was sentenced to three years detention at Inner London Crown Court in March last year for a vicious spree of robbery and violence on city commuter trains

He was part of a "steaming"gang who charged through carriages, threatening terrified passengers and stealing their possessions.

In one attack, Danny threatened to cut one victim on the face before stealing £5.

A few days later, the gang threatened another traveller. The man had a knife pushed towards his stomach as his mobile phone and £ 15 were stolen.

In November 2000, Danny had five prosecutions pending. Three of them were for assault.

He had used a baseball bat to batter a 13-year-old boy across the legs a few months earlier, after the victim said he had no money to give him.

Danny was being kept on bail at a children's home within two miles of the spot where Damilola was attacked. He absconded from the home on the day of the killing despite supposedly being on a 24-hour curfew.

The young thug was an expert at escaping from the home. He had jumped over a garden wall several times and liked to set off the fire alarm so the fire doors would open and let him out.

Danny also had the habit of disappearing into a girl's bedroom at the home so he could climb out of the window.

By the time he plunged a broken beer bottle into Damilola's leg, Ricky Preddie was already due to face several different sets of theft charges. He was given a 12-month supervision order in May 2000 for going equipped for theft.

In September 1999, Ricky was prosecuted for having a knife which he gave to another youth. And he was later stabbed himself, by a third youth.

In December 2002, Ricky was charged after throwing a bottle at another boy he accused of stealing his phone card.

And last year, when the detectives hunting Damilola's killers finally caught up with him, he was serving 12 months detention for driving while disqualified, assault and other offences.

During one of his stretches inside, Ricky confessed to another prisoner that he was part of the gang who killed Damilola.

Both brothers bullied their victim in the weeks before they killed him. A local youth told the court that he once witnessed Danny asking Damilola if he had a cigarette - then taking a swing at him.

Damilola stood up for himself. Rumour has it that he once broke Danny Preddie's gold chain in a fight. But his courage couldn't save him on November 27,2000.

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