Damilola girl ran up £4,000 hotel bill

A girl of 13 who is a key witness in the Damilola Taylor murder trial and her mother ran up room service bills of £4,000 in one week at the hotel where they were staying for her protection, a court heard today.

The girl was then asked to leave the Selsdon Park Hotel in Croydon when she caused a fire in her mother's room, the Old Bailey was told.

The bill, paid for by the taxpayer, included 59 phone calls she made from her hotel room in one day because she was "bored".

The girl, now 14, was placed at the hotel under a witness protection scheme after telling police she saw four youths attack 10-year-old Damilola in Peckham.

The girl, now 14, should have been under the supervision either of her mother, who works in a nightclub, or a woman police officer.

She was staying in room 207 where her bill for eight nights was £2,092. However much of the money spent in her mother's room 206 next door - £2,041 - is also thought to be down to her.

Dinner bed and breakfast cost £79 but extras for room 207 more than tripled this figure. Her first night she ran up extra expenditure in the bar and for room service along with 60 phone calls, the Old Bailey was told. The following day there were 58 calls costing up to £32. Under "leisure club, sales and beauty" sums of £35 and £22 were registered.

Seven drinks bills from the Phoenix Bar were listed. Of 14 phone calls one cost £69.40.

On another day there was £68 for room service food and a £161 dinner supplement along with more drinks bills. Another bill was for £83 on bar food, £33 on wine and more than £80 for spirits. There were 28 phone calls, one costing £23 and £66 for laundry bills.

"My girlfriend was staying," the girl told the court. The following day extra bar bills and food were recorded. "You have taken the police for a complete ride, haven't you," said Lady Ann Mallalieu, representing one of two brothers accused of the killing.

"No, I haven't,' said the girl sullenly.

Dealing with room 206 and the fire, she said: "You left early because you caused a fire in the middle of the night."

The girl replied: "I didn't cause a fire. It was a friend put tissue in the toilet."

Lady Mallalieu expressed surprise at "what one little girl was able to amass in a week".

Extras for room 206 included bar, food for £38 and £18 on 10 February, £44 at the leisure club and £19 for food from the night porter.

On 11 February there was a £77 dinner supplement, a series of bills for drinks and telephone calls and a bill for a pair of swimming trunks.

There were 59 phone calls on the 14 February. On the 16th a single phone call cost £226.

When the list phone calls was put to her she said: "I'm stuck in the hotel and I'm not allowed out in the world. I was bored."

Asked if she sought permission she said: "My mum was there but she was doing stuff."

Lady Mallalieu asked the girl who the calls were to. "My friend," she said. Earlier the trial heard how she spat at teachers and threatened pupils with a pair of scissors and a compass at her school. Lady Mallalieu referred to school reports itemising disruptive behaviour, dishonesty, violence and attention seeking.

"It was not only me. It was only because of the school," said the girl.

She was placed on the special needs register and was picked up by the police in an empty building when she should have been at school, the court heard.

Two months before Damilola's death she threatened a teacher with a stool.

Earlier that year she had been excluded for a time after she kicked and punched a workman at her school and by the end of 2000 faced permanent exclusion.

"I can't remember all the bad stuff I done," she told the court.

She also boasted that she was going to buy herself some trainers for £110 just minutes after saying for the first time she actually Damilola being attacked.

The jury heard the girl, 13 at the time, say in a video-taped police interview: "I am going to get some new trainers for tomorrow. I got told I could take some of the money now."

The court has already heard that the girl, who has admitted changing her story several times, knew that a £50,000 reward had been offered for information leading to the successful prosecution of Damilola's killers.

Two brothers aged 16, their 17-year-old friend and a 14-year-old youth, all from south London deny murder, manslaughter and assault with intent to rob.

The case continues.