A 17-year-old boy and his 20-year-old cousin have been jailed for the murder of a black student bludgeoned to death with an axe in what police said was a racist killing.
Michael Barton (17), younger brother of Manchester City player Joey Barton, had denied killing 18-
(From right to left). Michael Barton (18) and Paul Taylor (20) who were sentenced today for murdering 18-year-old A-level student Anthony Walker in Huyton, Merseyside, in July.
year-old college student Anthony Walker in Huyton, near Liverpool. He was found guilty yesterday.
He was sentenced today to serve at least 17 years and eight months years for the murder.
His cousin, Paul Taylor, admitted the murder before the trial was due to start in Liverpool last month. He was ordered to serve at least 23 years in prison.
"This was a totally unprovoked and racially motivated attack," a spokesman for Merseyside Police said after the murder.
Police said Walker, a devout Christian and keen sports fan, was escorting his white girlfriend Louise Thompson (17), to a bus stop when he was set upon by a group of youths. The attack came just minutes after he had been taunted with racist abuse.
Both Taylor and Barton fled the country following the attack but later returned to Liverpool following a televised appeal from Barton's brother.
During his trial, Michael Barton said he was not a racist and denied that the axe used to kill Walker was his.
Thousands of mourners crammed into Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral for Walker's funeral.