Star Wars The Force Awakens actor John Boyega 'friends with Damilola Taylor and one of the last people to see schoolboy alive'

John Boyega was one of the last people to see Damilola Taylor alive before he was killed in 2000, his father has revealed.

Boyega, 23, who plays the stormtrooper Finn in Star Wars: The Force Awakens was friends with Damilola, and he and his sister Grace were with Damilola in some of the last moments of his life.

The schoolboy was 10-years-old when he was stabbed in the leg with a broken bottle by a gang; the family had recently moved to the UK from Lagos, Nigeria.

He bled to death in the stairwell of the Peckham estate that Boyega also grew up in, while local workmen tried to save his life.

Speaking to the Daily Mirror, Damilola’s father Richard Taylor said: “Damilola and John and Grace were so close. They were looking after him when he arrived in the UK, because they went to school together.

“The three of them were captured in the CCTV recording that the police used when they asked people to come forward to assist with the investigation.

“They were the last to see him. They wanted to escort him home, but he said he was going to be OK. They left him by the junction then he went around the corner and the gang were waiting for him.”

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Boyega has received impressive reviews for his performance in the long-awaited franchise which is currently circulating cinemas. Prior to this he had roles in the BBC drama Being Human and the US TV show 24.

Mr Taylor said Boyega’s sister Grace was particularly close to Damilola and they were “almost like boyfriend and girlfriend”.

“We’ve been close to the family ever since”, he explained, “His father Samson is a pastor and we often speak.”

Last week, Mr Taylor and his son Babatunde joined Boyega and his family at the London premiere of the film.

“It was a great privilege for us to mingle with great film stars of the old and new generation,” he said.

According to the paper, Boyega nominated the Damilola Taylor Trust as one of the recipients of the Star Wars charity initiative ‘Force For Change’.

“Recently there was an email from the US saying that John had nominated the Trust to receive a donation from the film’s launch. I was overwhelmed. It filled me with joy.”

Mr Taylor said he is pleased Boyega is shining a positive light on Peckham after Damilola’s tragic death, which shocked the country.

“There’s good coming out of the place. John’s promoting Peckham, not denying his roots. Damilola would have been doing the same thing.”

Danny and Ricky Preddie, who were aged 12 and 13 at the time of Damilola’s killing, were convicted of manslaughter and jailed for eight years in 2006.

Danny was released from prison in 2011 and Ricky in 2013 – following three previous early releases and recalls.

The Damilola Taylor Trust was set up by Mr Taylor and his wife Gloria in 2011 to aim to improve the lives of inner-city, disadvantaged young people.

Gloria Taylor died in 2008 after suffering a heart attack.