A minimum prison term of 17 years for Michael Barton, and 23 years for Paul Taylor.

The two young cousins who carried out one of Britain’s most shocking racist murders of recent years have been sentenced. They were found guilty of killing 18-year-old Anthony Walker with an ice axe at a park in Huyton in northwest England. Barton, the younger assailant, began the confrontation with racist abuse at a bus stop. Walker, his girlfriend and a friend walked away, but the two killers caught up with the victim and Taylor drove the axe into his skull. Walker came from a strongly Christian family. His mother had this to say: “When Jesus was dying he said ‘I forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ I’ve got to forgive them, I still forgive them, my family and I still stand by what we believe: forgiveness.“Walker was a model student who wanted to be a lawyer. The shock and massive media attention surrounding his murder evokes memories of the racist killing of Stephen Lawrence in 1993.

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