Police give witness names to Kieran suspects

Scotland Yard faced massive embarrassment yesterday when it was revealed that the names of witnesses to the murder of 15-year-old Kieran Rodney-Davis had been accidentally released to the boys accused of the killing.

The shocking revelation came as the two 16-year-olds appeared at Uxbridge Youth Court in West London where solicitors fought hard but unsuccessfully for them to be given bail.

One of the reasons for them being remanded in custody is the fear that they would become targets for the community in which Kieran lived with his mother Antoinette in Fulham, South-West London.

It has been revealed that the names of witnesses were released 'by accident' to defence

teams after an identity parade. One detective said: 'The defendants' representatives have been made aware of the names. They know the names and there is no going back on that.'

The astonishing blunder has echoes of the report into the death of Stephen Lawrence in which eight police informants were accidentally named and had to be rehoused.

Kieran died a week ago as he walked home with a friend from a shop where he had bought gel to ease the pain from his new teeth braces. The discomfort had forced him to stay off school.

The boys were attacked by a gang wearing bandannas and masks who demanded money and the ?79 mobile phone Kieran had been given by his mother for his birthday only two weeks earlier.

The court heard that he died from a knife wound through the heart after 'a violent single blow' to his chest. The knife has still not been found. The two alleged murderers, who live in South-West London, were born within a few weeks of each other. Their identities cannot be disclosed for legal reasons because of their age.

As the pair entered the courtroom for the 90-minute hearing surrounded by a small squad of yellow-shirted Securicor guards, the court clerk said: 'Sit down, please.'

One of the boys was wearing a pale blue polo shirt, a brand of designer jeans that David Beckham is said to admire and Nike trainers.

He was waiting for the results of nine GCSEs, the court was told.

His mother cuddled up to him on the brown leatherette seats and waited for his father to arrive from a separate address in South-East London.

A Securicor man sat on the other side next to the second boy, while tearful friends and relatives had to stay in the waiting room.

The second boy wore a beige T-shirt, blue tracksuit bottoms and soft black shoes. The only person with him was his denim-jacketed mother.

Watched by two detectives from Scotland Yard's Serious Crime Directorate, Jacqueline Lyon, from the Crown Prosecution Service, outlined the evidence from a mass of files and green folders in front of her.

The boys' solicitors, Andy Hill and Michael Kalber, tried to win them bail but after a long adjournment the magistrates said they would be remanded in custody until Old Bailey committal proceedings in a month's time.

The defendant in the polo shirt and jeans cuddled his parents and kissed them before the Securicor guards escorted him away. The other boy had already gone.

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