Full Name Anthony Walker Citizenship United Kingdom Occupation A-level student | Nationality British Name Murder Anthony Ethnicity Black British | |
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Cause of death Blood loss from an axe wound to the head Died July 30, 2005, Huyton, United Kingdom | ||
Murder of anthony walker
Anthony Walker (21 February 1987 – 30 July 2005) was a Black British student of African descent from Huyton, Merseyside, England, who was murdered with an ice axe by Michael Barton (brother of footballer Joey Barton) and his cousin Paul Taylor, in an unprovoked racially motivated attack. Walker was eighteen years old and was in his second year of A-levels. He lived with his mother Gee Walker, his father Steve Walker, his two sisters and one brother.
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Murder
Passing life sentences on Taylor and Barton, with minimum terms of 23 years and eight months for Taylor and 17 years and eight months for Barton, Lord Justice Leveson said that the cousins had perpetrated a "terrifying ambush" and a "racist attack of a type poisonous to any civilised society".
Aftermath
In April 2006 it was reported that Barton had been attacked by fellow inmates at Moorland Closed Prison near Doncaster, South Yorkshire.
Three other people were later found guilty of helping Barton and Taylor flee to the Netherlands before their eventual arrest. On 10 May 2006 Robert Williams was convicted of providing money and booking a hotel room for the pair. He was sentenced to two years and four months. Paul Morson was sentenced to 11 months in prison for providing a getaway car. Tracy Garner admitted assisting an offender and received an 11-month suspended sentence and 50 hours of community service.
Although they drew frequent comparisons, many denied that there were similarities between Walker's killing and that of Stephen Lawrence in 1993. One such critic was Labour MP Edward O'Hara, who stated that, although there was a "certain surface comparison", Walker's killing was "random, exceptional and representative of absolutely nothing".
Walker's mother explained her attitude towards her son's killers, saying "I have to forgive them. I can't feel anger and hatred, because that is what killed my son". However, Walker's girlfriend Louise, who was present on the night of his murder, said she never would forgive them adding, "I hate them for what they have done. Anthony and I shared something special. Now he has been taken away from me by those two evil young men. I still feel that he (Anthony Walker) is around. Yesterday, I sent Anthony a text and just told him he (Barton) had been found guilty. It seemed the natural thing to do."
Reporting
Walker's murder and the subsequent trial of the perpetrators received a huge amount of media coverage in the UK, with a media pack congregating at John Lennon Airport awaiting the return of the accused. His funeral was broadcast live on television and the BBC ran a special Real Story programme about the crime. Such prominent coverage contrasted sharply with that given to similar cases with ethnic minority perpetrators and white victims, such as the murder of Ross Parker a 17 year old also killed while walking with his girlfriend. The BBC noted "stark" parallels between the two cases, admitting they had "underplayed" the Parker story, later also admitting to similar failings in their coverage of the murder of Kriss Donald. Sunday Times journalist Brendan Montague highlighted similar disparities in newspaper coverage between the Walker case and others, noting "an almost total boycott of stories involving the white victims of attacks" whereas "cases involving black and minority ethnic victims are widely reported". Montague also contrasted the lengthy sentences given to Walker's murders with comparable cases involving white victims, highlighting concern "that racist attacks against whites and non-whites are treated differently in the courts".
Anthony Walker Law Scholarship
On 2 April 2008, the Crown Prosecution Service announced a legal scholarship in Walker's memory. The scheme will offer one place in CPS Merseyside to a trainee solicitor who wants to become a fully fledged solicitor or barrister. It is open to any black or ethnic minority person who has secured or intends to apply for a place to study the LPC or BPTC full-time.