Ross Andrew Parker (17 August 198421 September 2001), from Peterborough, England, was a seventeen-year-old white English male murdered in an unprovoked racially motivated crime. He bled to death after being stabbed, beaten with a hammer and repeatedly kicked by a gang of British Pakistani men. The incident occurred in Millfield, Peterborough, ten days after the September 11 attacks. In December 2002, Shaied Nazir, Ahmed Ali Awan and Sarfraz Ali were unanimously found guilty of Parker's murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, each receiving minimum terms ranging from 16 to 18 years. A fourth defendant, Zairaff Mahrad, was cleared of murder and manslaughter. A memorial plaque for Parker is located in the Netherton area of Peterborough where a football match is played each year in his memory. Background Ross Parker was born in Peterborough in 1984 to Davinia and Tony Parker. His mother worked as a waitress and his father ran a car bodywork repair business; he was one of two children. 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. He was nicknamed "Half-Pint" owing to his height and had twice broken his leg previously. 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. Murder Parker was murdered shortly after 1:15 a.m. on Friday 21 September 2001 while walking with his girlfriend, Nicola Toms. The attack took place on a cycle path alongside Bourges Boulevard in Millfield, Peterborough, near to Russell Street. Racial tensions in the area were high as the 11 September attacks in New York City had occurred only ten days earlier. Having finished work early, Parker and Toms were walking to visit her friend's house when they were confronted by a gang of around ten Pakistani youths, some of whom were wearing balaclavas; the 2002 trial judge concluded that they had planned to find "a white male to attack simply because he was white" in the context of "hostility on the part of some of the younger white residents of the city against the Asian community". They warned Parker he had "better start running", but then blocked his path and quickly sprayed him in the face with CS gas. He was punched in the stomach then stabbed three