'Damilola boys have phone alibi'

Police have evidence that a mobile phone belonging to two 16-year-old brothers accused of murdering Damilola Taylor was used several miles from the scene at the exact time of the attack, the Old Bailey heard today. Courtenay Griffiths QC, defending one of the brothers, said the phone was used near Tower Bridge. Damilola, 10, bled to death in November 2000 on the North Peckham Estate after being stabbed in the thigh. "Unless they were beamed across like Star Trek they could not get from the North Peckham Estate," said Mr Griffiths.

He asked Sgt Carolyn Crooks, the police minder of the prosecution's key witness, a 14-year-old girl: "Hard evidence came into possession of the police which suggested they could not have been in Blakes Road. Why didn't you confront her (the key witness) with that?" Sgt Crooks said she was unaware of the evidence.

Earlier, Mr Griffiths accused Sgt Crooks of "cynically taking advantage" of the girl to "manufacture an eyewitness". He went on: "I suggest in the post-Lawrence world of policing the force could not afford to have another unsolved black death in southeast London. I suggest... your officers were desperate and you were sent in to manufacture an eyewitness." Sgt Crooks denied that, and said the investigation had not "stalled" by January 2001 when the girl came forward.

The two brothers, as well as a 17-year-old and a 14-year-old, deny murder, manslaughter and assault with intent to rob. The case continues.