--- description: The murdered schoolboy's father says Boyega and his sister were close to his son title: Star Wars Actor John Boyega Was a Witness to a Notorious London Murder image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926443f3ce1713ec/698876abab6d777cc26a7b5d/john-boyega1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # _Star Wars_ Actor John Boyega Was a Witness to a Notorious London Murder by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 23, 2015 2:01 PM CUT  John Boyega in Seoul, Dec. 9, 2015\. According to Damilola's father, the Star Wars actor and his sister were witness to Damilola's murder as a schoolboy. John Boyega in Seoul, Dec. 9, 2015\. According to Damilola's father, the Star Wars actor and his sister were witness to Damilola's murder as a schoolboy.Han Myung-Gu—WireImage/Getty Images by [Tara John](/author/tara-john/) ## Tara John Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Dec 23, 2015 2:01 PM CUT _Star Wars_ actor John Boyega was one of the last people to see a London schoolboy before he was murdered, the father of the schoolboy has revealed. Richard Taylor, 60, [told the _Mirror_](http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/star-wars-hero-john-boyega-7059437 "undefined") that Boyega and his sister Grace were with his son, Damilola Taylor, shortly before he was stabbed to death on Nov. 27, 2000, in South London. Boyega, who was eight at the time, and his sister wanted to escort Taylor home, but he said he would be fine walking alone. The young Taylor had left a computer class before two youths stabbed him with a broken bottle. He died from his wounds that day, 10 days before his 11th birthday. The murder of the boy who had recently emigrated from Nigeria horrified Londonders. “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,” Taylor told the _Mirror,_ “Damilola and John and Grace were so close. They were looking after him when he arrived in the U.K., because they went to school together.” Boyega, who plays Finn in _The Force Awakens_, invited Taylor to the film’s premier in London. The actor has also nominated the Damilola Taylor Trust to share $1.5 million from the charitable initiative Star Wars: Force for Change. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4159913/star-wars-actor-john-boyega-london-murder/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4159913/star-wars-actor-john-boyega-london-murder/"},"headline":"Star Wars Actor John Boyega Was a Witness to a Notorious London Murder","datePublished":"2015-12-23T14:01:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T13:36:25.410Z","description":"The murdered schoolboy's father says Boyega and his sister were close to his son","url":"https://time.com/4159913/star-wars-actor-john-boyega-london-murder/","keywords":["celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926443f3ce1713ec/698876abab6d777cc26a7b5d/john-boyega1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tara John","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tara-john/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt926443f3ce1713ec/698876abab6d777cc26a7b5d/john-boyega1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"John Boyega","caption":"John Boyega","creditText":"Han Myung-Gu—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4159913/star-wars-actor-john-boyega-london-murder/","name":"Star Wars Actor John Boyega Was a Witness to a Notorious London Murder"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"The New ‘Star Wars’ Trailer Almost Broke The Internet","description":"The 'Star Wars' trailer is to the Internet what the Death Star is to Alderaan.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/TSDr74uE/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-10-20T17:17:23.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/TSDr74uE.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4159913/star-wars-actor-john-boyega-london-murder/","duration":"PT1M56S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4159913/star-wars-actor-john-boyega-london-murder/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```