Black teenager murdered in racial attack in Liverpool, England

Monday, August 1, 2005

A black A-level student from Huyton, Merseyside, England has been murdered with an axe in what police have called a racist crime. He was 18 years old. Over 800 racist and religious hate incidents have been reported in London since July 7, a sharp increase from before the bombings.

A hooded white man in his 20s directed a torrent of racist abuse at Anthony Walker who was at a bus stop outside the Huyton Park pub where Walker waited with his white girlfriend and cousin.

The three walked away from the racial abuse without retaliating, but a gang of up to four white men caught up with them as they crossed McGoldrick Park. Mr. Walker's girlfriend and cousin ran to get help. When they returned, they found Mr. Walker on the ground with an axe embedded in his skull. He died at 0525 BST on Saturday 28 July 2005.

As of Monday, 1 August 2005, 05:00 GMT, Merseyside Police have arrested a 17-year-old white. They released an 18-year-old held on Sunday morning. They also want to question Paul Taylor and Michael Barton, brother of Manchester City midfielder Joey Barton, who they believe may have left the United Kingdom.

The story has sent shockwaves across the country, being the front-page story of The Independent and Daily Mirror on August 1st [1] [2], and echoing the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993, also an 18-year-old black student.

Sources

"Family in plea over axe killing" — BBC, July 31, 2005

"Man held over student axe murder" — BBC, July 31, 2005

"Second arrest over race killing" — BBC, July 31, 2005

Ian Herbert. "Anthony Walker murder carries chilling echoes of the death of Stephen Lawrence" — The Independent, August 1, 2005

Russell Jenkins. "He is another Stephen Lawrence, mother says" — Times Online, August 1, 2005

Martin Wainwright. "Tears flow freely as Liverpool grieves" — The Guardian, August 1, 2005

Martin Wainwright. "Race attacks rise after bombs" — The Guardian, August 1, 2005

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable.

Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.

The text of this article has been released into the public domain. In the event that this is not legally possible, this article may be used for any purpose, without any condition, unless such conditions are required by law. This applies worldwide. Copyright terms on images, however, may vary, so please check individual image pages prior to duplication.