Ross Andrew Parker (19 August 1984 – 21 September 2001), from Peterborough, England, was a seventeen-year-old white English male murdered in an unprovoked racially motivated crime.

[8] Parker was an avid footballer and, having completed a GNVQ in business studies at Jack Hunt School, hoped to join the police force when he was 18.

Parker lived in the Westwood area of the city and worked part-time as bar support at The Solstice, a local public house where he had met his girlfriend, Nicola Toms.

[13][14] Racial tensions in the area were high as the 11 September attacks in New York City had occurred only ten days earlier.

[3] They warned Parker he had "better start running", but then blocked his path and quickly sprayed him in the face with CS gas.

[3] The knife penetrated completely through his body on two occasions and as he was lying on the ground he was repeatedly kicked and struck with a panel beater's hammer.

[22] Detective Chief Inspector Dick Harrison, who was overseeing the case, praised the city's Muslim community for their involvement in capturing the murderers.

[24][25] On 7 November 2002, Awan, Nazir, Ali and Mahrad all of Millfield, Peterborough, stood trial for Parker's murder at Northampton Crown Court, pleading not guilty.

He also acknowledged washing the murder weapon and stated Ali had hit Parker with the hammer and Awan used the knife.

[43] Mahrad had also admitted to being present at the murder scene, and claimed that the blood stains found on his trousers occurred as a result of his accidentally falling across Parker.

Ali, defended by Mohammed Latif, denied being at the scene and claimed to have been asleep at the time of the murder, although a recording from a police van indicated this was a "story" that he had encouraged the others to "stick to".

[44] Nigel Rumfitt QC, defending Awan, summarised the crime by stating: "These people were not taking the night air.

[7][20] The judge, Sir Edwin Jowitt, summarised the murder 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.

[51][52] In 2006, a Sunday Times investigation by Brendan Montague examined British newspaper archives for coverage of racist crimes, finding "an almost total boycott of stories involving the white victims of attacks" whereas "cases involving black and minority ethnic victims are widely reported".

[53] The BBC Editorial Standards Committee in 2007 found that "there was no evidence to suggest that the BBC had shown a specific and systemic bias in favour of cases where the victim had been black or Asian", but accepted it had "underplayed its coverage of the Ross Parker case" and repeated the failings in its coverage of the murder of Kriss Donald.

[53] Evidence of this was seen in the Parker case, with the police initially appearing keen to dismiss the possible racist aspect of the murder, stating "there was no reason to believe that the attack was racially motivated".

The Government Office for the East of England produced a report by Dr Roger Green examining race relations in Peterborough.

The document suggested that the Peterborough Evening Telegraph had a history of insensitivity, and coverage of the case was "possibly adding to any climate of racial and communal unrest".

The criticism of the paper was rejected by a senior police officer and an Asian community leader, both of whom praised its handling of the case.

[59] In November 2001 Home Secretary David Blunkett banned all marches in Peterborough for three months as it was feared violence would be caused by the National Front and Anti-Nazi League who sought to hold protests on the same day.

His mother, Davinia, was unable to work for three months after Parker's funeral and came close to attempting suicide on a number of occasions.

[10][13][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 to ease racial tensions and reduce violence.

His "number 14" Netherton United football shirt was draped over his coffin and his teammates formed a guard of honour dressed in the same strip (kit).

The Reverend Geoffrey Keating described Parker as "a beacon of light who inspired so many people" and "an extremely popular young man".