Racist killers jailed for life

Two cousins have been jailed for life for the racist murder of Liverpool teenager Anthony Walker.

Paul Taylor, 20, from Huyton, Merseyside, was told he must serve at least 23 years eight months in prison.

Michael Barton, 17, also from Huyton, was ordered to serve a minimum of 17 years and eight months.

Taylor had pleaded guilty to Anthony’s murder at the beginning of the trial. He admitted hitting the eighteen-year-old in the head with an ice axe, causing his death.

Barton, who had denied charges of murder and conspiracy to commit grievous bodily harm, was found guilty yesterday on the grounds that he had supplied the weapon and started the initial confrontation.

Anthony was murdered in McGoldrick Park, Merseyside, in July. During Barton’s trial, the court heard how Anthony, his cousin Marcus Binns and girlfriend Louise Thompson, suffered racial abuse from Barton at a bus stop.

They left the bus stop and walked through McGoldrick Park, but Taylor and Barton drove ahead of them and ambushed the trio in the park. Both Marcus and Louise were able to run away, but Anthony was attacked. When he was found, the ice axe was still embedded in his head.

Sentencing, Mr Justice Leveson said: “This was a racist attack of a type poisonous to any civilised society. In spite, of your youth, deterrent sentences are vital.”

Both Taylor and Barton faced sentences of up to 30 years in jail, because the murder was judged to be racially motivated. Taylor received a lesser sentence, due to his guilty plea, while Barton, who automatically would have received a lesser sentence because of his age, and because he said he had not intended to kill Mr Walker.

However, the judge said that he was jointly responsible for the murder, because it had been a joint decision to bring the ice axe to the park.

An investigation has been launched after racist graffiti was discovered at the scene of Anthony’s murder, shortly after Barton was found guilty. Merseyside Police have appealed for information.

(KMcA/SP)