Richard Taylor said that people "don't value life" while talking about the tragic case of Joel, who was found dead inside the burnt-out shell of his Deptford family home in south-east London last July.
Father of murdered schoolboy Damilola Taylor has begged for more to be done to solve the murder of seven-year-old Joel Uhrie.
Richard Taylor said that people "don't value life" while talking about the tragic case of Joel, who was found dead inside the burnt-out shell of his Deptford family home in south-east London last July.
The autistic seven-year-old is believed to be the victim of an arson attack.
The boy's mother Efe was forced to smash open a window on the first floor before jumping to safety with her daughter Sarah, 19, but Joel was trapped and could not get away.
His older brother Sam Uhrie, 21, tried to run into the house to save his sibling after arriving at the scene with two friends in a car but was stopped by police.
Relatives said that Joel was likely to have been caught in the crossfire of a vicious turf war involving Sam, who had only recently been released from jail.
Mr. Taylor said there was much more outcry about Damilola's death nearly twenty years ago.
Speaking in an interview with Channel 4, Mr. Taylor said: "The police commissioner was very interested to make sure that they're getting to the bottom of the tragedy because of the age.
"People don't value life, because of the number of tragedies and stabbings, it is regarded as an everyday occurrence now."
He joined Joel's mother in appealing for information about Joel's murder and condemned the wall of silence surrounding the case, saying: "I am very angry, it is the same thing that happened during the Damilola Taylor investigation, the whole community knew about what happened. For the sake of the young boy they should please come and give information."
Mother Efe told Channel 4 News: "I am begging for people to speak out, if you know you are scared, find a way to convey the message to me, I will go to the police on your behalf, so you don't need to be scared anymore."
Efe described the night of the arson attack on her home, recalling her attempts to save her son, the UK Daily Mail reports.
"I said let me jump and I will be a cushion for him to jump on."
But Joel, who was autistic, paralyzed by fear, did not.
"I was screaming, my son, my son, but it was too late. That guilt will never leave my mind. I still put on my alarm to wake up 7.30 because I feel like I need to get him ready to take him to school. So it is just a vicious act done to a family which is not fair."
Councillor Joani Reid, Lewisham Council Cabinet Member for Community Safety, described Joel's murder as a tragedy and urged anyone with information to contact police, saying those responsible must face the full force of the law.
Crimestoppers is offering a reward of up to £10,000 for information they receive anonymously that leads to the arrest of the person or people responsible for the murder of Joel Urhie.
Ten-year-old Damilola Taylor bled to death on November 27, 2000, after being stabbed in the thigh with a broken beer bottle in a service area on the North Peckham Estate, south London, where he lived.
CCTV camera caught the boy walking "playfully" along the quiet streets of his South London estate, appearing untroubled and without any apparent care in the world.
Moments later he was stopped, surrounded, trapped by a group of youths.