Mother of murdered boy, 15, says her pleas for help were ignored before London machete attack

"Joelle Taylor claims Greenwich Council refused to accept that Daejaun Campbell met their threshold for assistance until it was too late and failed to provide support for his family. His friend, aspiring rapper Kelyan Bokassa, 14, nicknamed Grippa, featured in a YouTube video titled Gotta Eat, in which he was seen crouching beside a floral tribute to Daejaun. Then on January 7, Kelyan was also fatally stabbed by two 16-year-old boys with machetes on a bus in the same borough."

"The programme said it had seen evidence that a Greenwich social worker eventually assigned to Daejaun's case failed to turn up to two crucial meetings in the weeks before he was killed. It is said when Ms Taylor emailed social services to say she was desperate for help, they failed to reply, until she chased them again a week later. A day after his murder, according to the documentary, the council emailed Ms Taylor to rearrange one meeting, unaware that Daejaun was dead."

A 15-year-old boy was murdered with a machete after being groomed and exploited by older youths linked to street gang culture. His mother accuses Greenwich Council social services of refusing to accept that he met the threshold for assistance and failing to provide support until it was too late. A 14-year-old friend who appeared in a YouTube video beside a floral tribute to the victim was later fatally stabbed on a bus. A social worker assigned to the case missed two crucial meetings, emails from the mother went unanswered, and the council sought to rearrange a meeting after the killing. One defendant received a life sentence with a minimum term of 21 years.

Read at www.standard.co.uk