| Ross Parker | |
|---|---|
| Died | September 21, 2001 Peterborough, England |
Ross Parker (17 August 1984 – 21 September 2001), from Peterborough, England, was a white male murdered in a racially motivated crime. He was stabbed to death and beaten with a hammer by a gang of Muslim Asian youths, described as a "hunting party", with the incident occurring ten days after the September 11th attacks.[1] Shaied Nazir, Ahmed Ali Awan, and Sarfraz Ali were all found guilty of his murder. [2][3]
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Parker was murdered shortly after 1 am on 21 September 2001 when walking home from work with his girlfriend. Racial tensions in the area had been high, with the terrorist attacks on September 11 occurring ten days previously. He was attacked by a gang of Asian Muslim youths,[4] some wearing balaclavas, who that evening had planned "to find a white male to attack simply because he was white" [5] They warned Parker he had "better start running" and quickly sprayed him in the face with CS gas. He was punched in the stomach, repeatedly kicked and stamped upon, struck with a hammer, and then stabbed three times through the throat and chest with a foot-long hunting knife[6]. The knife penetrated right through his body on two occasions and as a result Parker bled to death.[7] After the murder, Awan, brandishing the bloodied knife, exclaimed "cherish the blood".[8][9]
During the weekend following the murder, twelve people were arrested in connection with the incident, with a £1,000 reward put up by the local community to find the killers.[10]
A number of those arrested were recorded chanting "Taliban, Osama bin Laden" whilst being transported in the police van, also vandalising the vehicle. [11] Such chanting continued in the police cells.[12]
By March 2002 all four defendants charged with Parker's murder had been controversially released from prison on police bail. Parker's sister stated "we can't begin to comprehend why they've been allowed out of prison at this stage". Parker's family were so concerned about such a decision that they wrote a letter of complaint to the Home Office.[13]
Shaied Nazir, 22, Ahmed Ali Awan, 22, and Sarfraz Ali, 25, all of Peterborough, stood trial for Parker's murder, pleading not guilty. At the trial Nazir admitted to using CS gas and to kicking Parker whilst he was lying on the ground, though blamed Ali for Parker's death. Controversially, Safraz Ali was given a reference at the trial by the Deputy Mayor of Peterborough, Raja Akhtar.[14]
All three were found guilty of murder in unanimous verdicts [15]. Judge Sir Edwin Jowett stated during sentencing, "you put your heads together with the purpose of arming yourselves and of attacking an innocent man you might find by chance simply because he was of a different race to yourselves. A racist killing must be one of the gravest kinds of killing." They received life sentences, with Awan to serve a minimum of 18 years and the others at least 16. A fourth defendant, Zairaff Mahrad, 21, was cleared of murder and manslaughter.[2]
Awan and Nazir appealed against their sentences in January 2008 but the original sentences were upheld. After the appeal Parker's father suggested that the killers of his son should never be freed.[16]
Some groups have been critical of the media for their lack of coverage of the Ross Parker case in comparison to similar racist murders occurring in the UK, such as the case of Anthony Walker, leading to claims of racism against whites.[17] Some outlets have admitted they should have given the case more coverage with the BBC later stating "it was a mistake not to report the case of Ross Parker more extensively".[18] In 2006 a Times article on racist murders stated UK newspapers had "an almost total boycott of stories involving the white victims of attacks".[19] This is particularly true in the Parker case, with a number of national newspapers completely ignoring the story or relegating it to their "in brief" section.[20][21] Yasmin Alibhai-Brown was equally critical of the media and activist groups' reaction to cases such as Parker's, stating "to treat some victims as more worthy of condemnation than others is unforgivable and a betrayal of anti-racism itself".[22]
Such a lack of coverage has encouraged far right groups to attempt to exploit the case for political purposes, with organisations such as the National Front and British National Party targeting the city.[23]
As a result of the murder of Parker, local authorities set up a unity scheme, whereby gang members from different communities were trained as youth workers in order to ease racial tensions and reduce violence.[24] However, some problems still persisted, with racist graffiti painted near the murder scene two years after the incident reading "no go area for whites" and "death to whites".[25]
Some, such as Mark Easton cite the Parker case as demonstrating how society has been forced to redefine racism and discard the erroneous definition of "prejudice plus power" – a definition which only allowed ethnic minorities to be victims.[26]
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