Axe murder highlights racial tensions
Category: uk Dated: 02/08/2005
The tragic murder of teenager Anthony Walker has focused attention on the serious issue of racist incidents in the Huyton area of Liverpool according to a help centre; despite the local MP saying otherwise.
story by Sereena Assih [taken from Black Britain]
Murdered teenager Anthony Walker was a regular churchgoer who loved basketball and wanted to become a lawyer.
There is only a small pocket of people of ethnic origin living in that area, but the actual proportion of racist incidents compared to the black population there is fairly high...It's more common than the police and MPs are supposing.
As Merseyside police investigate the brutal racist murder of 18 year old A Level student Anthony Walker, differing accounts of community relations in the Huyton Park area have emerged.
On Monday, Edward O'Hara, Labour MP for Knowsley South denied on BBC Radio 4's Today Programme that any significant racial tensions existed in the area.
While he admitted it was a racist attack, he said it had been "entirely untypical of the community in which it happened".
He said "this act was random, exceptional and representative of absolutely nothing."
However this has been disputed by Anthony Clarke, a representative of the Liverpool 8 law centre.
He told Black Britain that Huyton was a middle class area with a small number of black families living there (1.4 per cent), but the number of complaints was disproportionately high in comparison.
In the last two months there have been 25 recorded race attacks in Huyton. The figures for racial incidents in May and June have doubled in comparison to April.
"There is only a small pocket of people of ethnic origin living in that area, but the actual proportion of racist incidents compared to the black population there is fairly high," he said.
"It's more common than the police and MPs are supposing."
Mr Clarke also added that on the same night Anthony Walker was killed, another family in the area was also subjected to a racially motivated attack.
It has also been reported that the Knowsley Race Hate Steering Group is extremely concerned about the level of racism in the area and is trying to get the issue put at the top of the local council and police agenda.
Wider picture
Anthony's parents have made a plea for anyone with information to come forward.
This is on a level with the Stephen Lawrence case. My son was killed purely because of the colour of his skin. We cannot change our colour. - Gee Walker, Anthony's Mother
According to official figures, Merseyside Police recorded a 72 per cent increase in the number of race crimes between 2001/02 and 2003/04.
Nationally there has also been an increase in racially aggravated offences.
Home Office figures show that between 2003/04 and 2004/05 there has been a 28 per cent increase in the number of racially motivated assaults where a person was wounded, and a 10 per cent increase in cases of racial harassment.
But only one third of racially or religiously aggravated assault cases have been cleared up.
Official records also show that in England and Wales there were 22 murders classified as being racially motivated between 2001/02 and 2003/04.
Of these there are five where no suspect has been identified.
As with the attack on Mr Walker, in 38 per cent of cases involving a black murder victim, a sharp instrument was used.
Comparison with Stephen Lawrence
Similarities between the murder of Stephen Lawrence in south London in 1993, and that of Anthony Walker have been drawn by several people including Anthony's mother, Gee.
She said, "This was an entirely racially motivated attack. "This is on a level with the Stephen Lawrence case. My son was killed purely because of the colour of his skin. We cannot change our colour."
Superintendent Ali Dizaei of the National Black Police Association told the BBC's Today programme that the murder was "an unequivocal indication that the cancer of racism is still here, 10 years after the Lawrence inquiry. "Unfortunately, young, innocent black children are subject to it, and I think it is a sad day."
However, unlike the outcome of the Stephen Lawrence case, where nobody has ever been convicted of his murder, Supt Dizaei said he was confident Mr Walker's attackers would be brought to justice.
"I have every confidence that the police will catch these people and put them before the courts and demonstrate to the black community that we will not tolerate these abhorrent acts of racism on young, innocent people," he said.
Bludgeoned to death
Some of the floral tributes which have been left at the spot where Anthony was attacked.
Anthony Walker died in the early hours of Saturday morning after being subjected to a torrent of racist abuse by a gang of up to four white men, as he, his white girlfriend and cousin were waiting at a bus stop outside the Huyton Park pub in Merseyside on Friday evening. Rather than retaliate they chose to walk to another bus stop but were attacked as they did so. Mr Walker's cousin and girlfriend saw him being physically assaulted and ran to get help, but when they returned they found him collapsed on the floor with serious head injuries. He was taken to the Whiston Hospital where he was found to have an axe embedded in his head. He was later transferred to the Walton Neurological Centre where he died at 5:25am.
Mr Walker's cousin, Marcus Binns told the Liverpool Daily Post; "We just ran and ran, but Anthony didn't get away. We asked someone for help and they took us back to where it happened but just left us.
"We got there too late. I have got to live with that for the rest of my life."
Police have named two men wanted in connection with the murder as Paul Taylor and Michael Barton, who they believe may be abroad.
Three men aged 17, 26 and 29 are currently being questioned by police over the attack.
see also - National Civil Rights movement