 TEENAGER Michael Barton was today convicted of murdering black student Anthony Walker. Barton, the 17-year-old brother of Manchester City footballer Joey Barton, was unanimously convicted by a Liverpool crown court jury, which heard Anthony was the victim of a racist attack. The 18-year-old was hit with an ice axe in the head in McGoldrick Park, Huyton, as he tried to walk away from Barton and his cousin Paul Taylor. Jurors had heard how Barton had subjected Anthony and his cousin to a torrent of insults, in which he was called "nigger" and "coon". Barton, of Boundary Road, Huyton, had denied murder. Before the trial started Taylor, 20, of Elizabeth Road, Huyton, pleaded guilty to murdering A-level student Anthony. Barton raised his head as the foreman announced his verdict. He gazed straight ahead with tears in his eyes. Anthony's mother, Gee, clapped her hands over her mouth as Barton was declared guilty and clutched her locket with her son's picture. She then put her hands together and prayed. On July 29, Anthony, who lived with his family in Mellor Close, Huyton, walked to a bus stop in nearby St John's Road with his white girlfriend Louise Thompson, 17, and his cousin Marcus Binns, 18, on July 29. Racist taunts were shouted at him from Barton outside the Huyton Park pub, while Taylor was on his mobile phone. Marcus, who at the time had a distinctive Afro hairstyle, remembered being called "microphone head" and "Michael Jackson". Anthony Walker shouted back: "We're only waiting for a bus and then we're going", Marcus Binns made no response to the abuse and they decided to move on. | 
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