Stuart Walker Murder: Self-Hate Crime?

A teenager has admitted killing a gay barman and then setting his body alight after he flew into a rage when they discussed his confused sexuality.
Ryan Esquierdo, 19, attacked Stuart Walker, 28, and choked him to death after the pair had met one night while they were separately walking home in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, in October last year.
Esquierdo confessed that he had fallen into an "uncontrollable rage" after Walker, who worked in a local hotel bar, had tried to comfort him after he admitted being unsure about his sexuality. The two men then had sexual relations in a local industrial estate, sparking off a violent, sustained attack on Walker by Esquierdo, who then set Walker's body alight to conceal the evidence and then lied to police about the attack.
The case shocked and unnerved the town, raising fears Walker was the victim of a homophobic murder; at the time, the police refused to disclose many details about his death....

The Guardian. 
What a world, what a world!
Homophobia - internalised homophobia - does seem to have been the spur here. 
And Ryan Esquierdo is a tragic victim of our homophobic culture, as well.
Here's a piece I wrote at the time on misreporting of this awful case.

Gay Police Association Say: We Can Confirm We Are Morons

Police association calls for homophobic recording of Stuart Walker murder

Look up sub judice in the fucking dictionary, you stupid fucking retards.
This is a resigning issue you thick fuck.
FFS!

PS This is off lie-some Pink News and I haven't been able to check it yet but seeing as all they do is reprint press releases I'm taking it as a given for now. Hooray for the stupid people!!!

On Stuart Walker and Christopher Jefferies: Shame

Yesterday Vincent Tabak was convicted of the murder of Joanna Yeates.
If we still did have hanging Christopher Jefferies could have swung for it.
Because most of the tabloids decided Mr Jefferies killed Jo last Christmas.
The only "evidence" they had was that some people thought he was "strange" and probably gay.
Case closed!
Here is Chris talking about his ordeal on Sky News - apparently he got a six-figure sum off their sister paper, The Sun, for defamation.
Yesterday an 18 year-old man, Ryan Esquierdo, was charged with the murder of Stuart Walker.
The Scottish press have intimated Stuart was killed by "a secret lover".
That's odd - last weekend the press said they thought he was the victim of an anti-gay hate crime.
This was then sent round the world as fact via Twitter.
During the week some papers hinted he may have been killed in a vigilante attack because he was a suspected child molester.
Of course, they can't all be right.
At the time of writing we do not know who killed Stuart Walker or why.
I hope the press and the public will not rush to judge in this case - for Chris's, and for Stuart's, and for all of our sake.

Stuart Walker Murder: No News

"One thing that is quickly obvious about Cumnock is its tolerance...
"According a range of gay people living in Cumnock, there is no sense of a dark, homophobic underbelly in the once prosperous mining town.
"Although reluctant to be named, not one gay person interviewed for this piece could remember having been bullied or targeted because of their sexuality..."

After the murder, anger of the town where gay barman died
Amelia Hill reports from Cumnock for The Guardian (Emphasis added), a story they trailed on the front page.
Most papers' websites today splashed the news; 'Gay barman Stuart Walker was quizzed over child sex crime claim' (Daily Mirror).
A story The Scottish Sun claims was their exclusive; "FIREBALL murder victim Stuart Walker was quizzed by cops over alleged indecency involving a 12-year-old boy after being accused by the lad's family."
Though the Scottish Sun added this qualifier from the police; "There is nothing to suggest at this time that the murder was connected to these allegations."
One wonders what they do know.
And how the press came to know this.
Well, after Hackgate we can have a pretty good guess who tipped the press off.
A report was filed, but police say the case had been recently closed.
There has been no new information about Stuart Walker or his murder in the London-based press - perhaps they've been too busy correcting their original version of events?
But the tabloids abhor this kind of news vacuum - what will they come up with over the weekend?
Scotland's Daily Record has been looking at this story from every possible angle.
According to the Record police have questioned one man about Stuart Walker's murder and taken a DNA sample from him.
They even published a photo of the man.
Insinuation after insinuation after speculation...
In the same paper; Friends tell how murdered barman Stuart Walker had 'time of his life' at party just hours before he was killed
At the time of writing Stuart's killer or killers are still unknown - to us.

Update Friday 6.30pm: Police have now arrested the 18 year-old man they were questioning about Stuart Walker's murder.
The Scottish Sun alleged earlier today; 'DETECTIVES were last night investigating if the savage killer of gay barman Stuart Walker was a secret lover gripped by a fit of rage' - Anonymous "source".
But please remember how much that has been written about this terrible case has turned out to be untrue or mere speculation...

Stuart Walker: A Few Thoughts On A Tragedy

At the time of writing we still do not know why Stuart Walker was killed.
Perhaps only the bastard/s that killed him know that now.
It may yet turn out that it was a homophobic crime - though the police say there is no reason to think that it was and are pursuing another "positive line of inquiry".
And of course having blind faith in anything and everything the police say would be as foolish as believing everything you read in a right-wing tabloid.
There's been an endless stream of Tweets - telegraphed by the unreliable gay hysteric, Patrick Strudwick - that began late last night saying some variation on "Gay man Stuart Walker tied to a lamppost and burned to death" (See #ripstuartwalker and #stuartwalker on Twitter).
We now know that's not what happened, yet still they come.
Many claimed he had been murdered in an anti-gay hate crime.
Though you can see why people might have jumped to this conclusion, that's all they were doing; jumping to a conclusion.
As I've written below here this "information" was taken from a story that appeared on the Daily Mail's website last night;
Savagely beaten, tied to a lamppost and burned alive: Horrific fate of hotel manager who was murdered 'for being gay'
Two of those statements have turned out to be lies.
But anyone should be able to see that the Mail claiming Stuart was murdered "for being gay" was entirely speculative.
One would hope that no rational person believes everything they read in The Daily Mail without questioning it.
Most of all gay men.
It fills me with despair that journalists on the gay media this morning began reprinting the Mail's speculation as fact.
Not only without questioning it but - on what is clearly a huge story for them whatever the motive turns out to be - without checking it (most have now updated/rewritten their stories).
In the age of the internet it takes minutes to perform a basic factcheck on a story.
How long does it take to take to make a phone call to Strathclyde Police?
To my knowledge - and to his credit - the only gay journalist who did this was Scott Roberts at GaydarRadio News.
This, one would have thought, is merely maintaining the most basic of journalistic standards.
Many of the Tweets I recieved about Stuart Walker came from gay journalists.
I can well understand why anyone would want to express their anger and sadness at this murder.
But some gay mens' behaviour on this has been embarrassing, and occasionally hysterical.
Particularly the intemperance shown to those who said we should keep an open mind on the motive.
Anyone for irony?
I say none of this out of a mistaken belief in my own perfection and conceit, like anyone I too make mistakes and get things wrong - endlessly.
I initially took it as a given that he was found tied to a lamppost - I couldn't see why would someone make that up.
But this episode seems symptomatic of the poor editorial standards in the gay media that I have been documenting on this blog for the last 18 months.
How can you write a news story about a gay man's murder and not talk to the police first?
I hope this reminds people that whenever they read anything in the newspapers the question they should ask themselves is "Is this true?"
And as much of the gay news media is now just lifting stories from the straight press without checking it, I hope people ask that about anything in the gay media too.
And I hope none of those self-same gay journalists will be shameless enough to write about this story in the future without admitting their role in disseminating misinformation about it.
Some hope.

Stuart Walker Murder: Still A Mystery

The murder of Stuart Walker is now trending on Twitter.
Many people are saying how upset and angry they are.
Who wouldn't be?
His death looks incredibly horrific and sadistic.
Stuart, 28, was found dead with "horrible injuries" on the edge of an industrial estate in Cumnock on Saturday Morning.
It has been said he had been tied to a lamppost, beaten and burned.
Much of the outrage on Twitter is because people say this was an anti-gay hate crime.
Whilst that looks likely, this angle was picked up last night from a story on the Daily Mail's website;
Savagely beaten, tied to a lamppost and burned alive: Horrific fate of hotel manager who was murdered 'for being gay'
Note the quote marks.
Their line in the story is far more nuanced; "Strathclyde Police would not rule out that Mr Walker had been murdered because of his sexuality and were now closely examining all aspects of the victim’s life."
ie the police when asked by the Mail said they do not know yet, and yes it may be an anti-gay hate crime.
But this is an old tabloid trick - ask a leading question, then turn a non-commital answer into a "story".
Note this is in The Daily Mail - a newspaper known for its sensationalism, exaggerations and distortions.
If we start taking our cues from them unquestioned we are fucked.
Note how BBC News has worded it;
"Following reports Mr Walker may have been targeted due to his sexuality, Strathclyde Police said they were looking into all aspects of his life."
"Following reports..." ie in The Daily Mail.
Stuart Walker was gay, and the awful ritualistic method of the claims he was tied to a lamppost and burned has echoes of the brutal murder of Matthew Shepard.
It certainly looks like it could be a homophobic hate crime, but at the moment we do not know.
That's why the police are investigating.
Probably best not to reach a conclusion on this before the police - or a court of law - does.

Update: "They [Police] would not comment on reports he had been tied to a lamppost and beaten." The Guardian

Update 2 - 13.11: "Police are aware of reports about Mr Walker's sexuality and are trying to establish a motive. They said there was nothing to suggest a homophobic crime.
Det Insp John Hogg, of Strathclyde Police, said: "We are still working towards identifying a motive for this murder. I am aware of all the speculation in the media regarding Mr Walker and his death.
"At this time we have nothing to indicate that this is a homophobic crime.
"Until we know the exact circumstances surrounding this murder, we will not rule anything out and will keep an open mind on any possible motive for his terrible crime.
"There have also been reports that Mr Walker was tied to a post, this is not the case." BBC News online.