Footballer appeals to brother over racist murder

The Premiership footballer Joey Barton has appealed to his brother to give himself up to detectives investigating the racist murder of teenage student Anthony Walker.

The Manchester City midfield player told his brother Michael, 18, who has been named by Merseyside Police as an individual wanted for questioning: "You must do this for the Walker family so they can mourn Anthony and because you know it is the right thing to do."

The player, aged 22, described Anthony's murder, by racists who embedded a pickaxe in his forehead, as "horrific" and "senseless."

Mr Barton made it clear that he had not been brought up with his brother and said his "side of the family" were "sickened" by the death of a "kind, decent young man."

Joey Barton was brought up by his father, Joey Snr, a roofer, who split 10 years ago from the player's mother, Rita. She brought up Michael and his twin brother, Andrew.

Another man named by police as a suspect in the murder investigation - 20-year-old Paul Taylor - is a cousin of the Barton boys. (His mother is Rita's sister.)

Police believe Mr Barton and Mr Taylor may have fled to Amsterdam, Spain, or elsewhere in continental Europe. They certainly seem to have had the financial means to travel such a distance but they are unlikely to have travelled any further. Both have previous criminal convictions.

Joey Barton spoke last year about his upbringing on the tough St John's estate in Huyton, Merseyside, where the murder took place.

The same estate has produced the current Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and former Everton and England player Peter Reid.

"St John's is quite a rough council estate," he said. "We played football wherever we could. We made goals out of wood, scaffolding, anything. The estate is not as bad as it [seems] to outsiders [but] it has got problems with drugs and crime."

Detectives remain delighted with the local response to witness appeals, with individuals unusually willing to identify themselves when providing information.

Crucial to the investigation is any forensic evidence from the park entrance where Anthony was attacked by men who emerged from bushes at around 11.30pm last Friday night.

With a considerable amount of forensic examination to examine, it may be some days before that emerges.

Anthony was at a bus stop with his white girlfriend, Louise, and his cousin Marcus Binn, both 17, when he was racially abused by a man standing in a car park of the Huyton pub opposite.

To avoid confrontation, they took a short cut through McGoldrick Park where Anthony was attacked.

Police have not been willing to discuss the nature of the racist insults thrown at Anthony, though they have made it clear that the vitriol was directed at him and his cousin and did not allude to the fact that Anthony had a white girlfriend.

Officers are forensically examining a Peugeot car removed from the pub forecourt and are also seeking evidence from the relatively small number of people who were in the pub - including six who were at the pool table - on Friday night. Though the pub complex is large, part of it has not been in use of late.

Detectives are also trying to enhance dark images from a CCTV camera, which was erected near the scene of the murder following the high profile murder in 1996 of 14-year-old Lee Kinch by a man later convicted of manslaughter on grounds of diminished responsibility.

Bernard Lawson, Assistant Chief Constable of Merseyside Police: "I'm pleased, in all these sad circumstances, that we are doing our utmost to bring the offenders to justice, but we are not going to be complacent."

His officers continue to question two men, aged 26 and 29, arrested on suspicion of murder, while a further two men, aged 18 and 17, have both been released on bail.

- THE INDEPENDENT