Family of Briton murdered in Jamaica seek answers over UK officials’ ‘indifference’
The family of a “generous and loving” British man who was murdered in Jamaica are demanding answers over the British government’s “indifferent” response after the tragedy,Delroy Walker, from Birmingham, was stabbed to death weeks after retiring to the Caribbean island where he was building his dream home,The 63-year-old charity worker was murdered by a “jealous” tradesman he employed to help decorate the property in preparation for a family visit in summer 2018,Dwayne Barton, 32, was jailed for 27 years and his accomplice, Davian Edwards, 33, for 22 years this week after being found guilty of murder in a trial at St Mary circuit court in Jamaica,Walker, who was born on the island, was 11 years old when he moved to Britain with his parents who were part of the Windrush generation.
He worked as a carpenter, builder and a school caretaker but had always dreamed of returning to Jamaica to retire, which he did in November 2017.Steve Walker, 59, said his brother had found a beautiful seafront house and hired local tradespeople to help him restore it in preparation for his family visiting from Britain.He had been keen to employ people nearby because he had been “very much about supporting the local community”.However, the trial heard that the retiree had become involved in a minor dispute with one of the men, Barton, who returned to the property and stabbed him to death as “payback” in April 2018.Delroy Walker’s murder came weeks before the fatal stabbing of the British retirees Gayle and Charlie Anderson, 71 and 74, from Manchester, and sparked warnings that those returning from Britain were being deliberately targeted.
Jamaican police bolstered security in response.After the sentencing on Tuesday, Steve Walker, a former BBC technician from Croydon in south London, said he hoped the lengthy prison sentences would show that “Jamaica will tolerate this no longer”.He said his brother had been a generous and loving man who had been so excited to welcome his family on a trip from Britain that was weeks away when he was murdered.He said: “We’ve had justice, which is what we’ve been striving for since the day his life was taken in that cruel way … [but] it’s left an emptiness.I like Jamaica but my brother loved Jamaica.
He should be here.I should be sharing these moments and sharing paradise with him.”Walker’s family said they would request a meeting with the British Foreign Office over what they described as the “indifferent” way his murder had been treated by the high commission in Kingston.Steve Walker said a UK official had told him initially that the government could not help them because “your brother’s not British, or not British enough, because he had a dual passport”.“It was shocking to the core and it still shocks me,” he said.
“I felt disgust and upset.It was time when we needed that support.”Sign up to Headlines UKGet the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morningafter newsletter promotionCriminal prosecutions in Jamaica are notoriously slow and it took seven years to bring the killers to trial, despite them being arrested weeks after the murder.Walker’s family had requested the British government’s help to expedite the process but received “very little, very late and often nothing at all”, said his sister Jackie Ward.Ward, from Surrey, said she believed the high commission treated the family as not British because her brother had had a dual Jamaica-British passport, even though he had spent most of his life in the UK and his family still live there.
She said: “If it had been a person from Oxford or Surrey, a white British family, who had been killed, I highly suspect their response and support would have been different.“They were indifferent about it.It’s far from good enough.It’s a systemic problem.”Ward said no British government official had contacted them since the trial and had not attended the court hearings as promised, she said, despite the murder warranting interventions from Jamaica’s director of public prosecutions and receiving national media coverage in both countries.
The Foreign Office said: “We have supported the family since Mr Walker’s death and remain available for consular assistance,”
UK government has ‘got the balance right’ on tax, says Rachel Reeves
The government has “got the balance right” on tax, Rachel Reeves has insisted after a former Labour shadow chancellor said she should consider introducing a wealth tax.The chancellor said she had already increased taxes on the wealthiest in society with higher levies “on private jets, on second homes, and increased capital gains tax”.Speaking to reporters in Scotland, Reeves said: “In the budget last year, we got rid of the non-domicile status in our tax system, so people who make Britain their home have to pay their taxes here.“I think we’ve got the balance right in terms of how we tax those with the broadest shoulders, but any further decisions will be ones that are made at a budget in the normal way.”Reeves was speaking after Anneliese Dodds, who resigned as a Foreign Office minister earlier this year over aid cuts, said ministers should “look carefully” at proposals for a one-off levy on millionaire households
From silence to statehood: how Trump’s indifference moved the UK on Palestine
It was, in the end, an off-the-cuff remark from Donald Trump that moved the dial.“I’m not going to take a position,” the US president said when asked in Scotland about pressure on Keir Starmer to recognise a Palestinian state. “I don’t mind him taking a position. I’m looking for getting people [in Gaza] fed right now.”Within 36 hours, after an emergency meeting of his cabinet, the prime minister had set out a plan to revive fading hopes of a two-state solution – and recognise Palestine by the end of September
Family of Briton murdered in Jamaica seek answers over UK officials’ ‘indifference’
The family of a “generous and loving” British man who was murdered in Jamaica are demanding answers over the British government’s “indifferent” response after the tragedy.Delroy Walker, from Birmingham, was stabbed to death weeks after retiring to the Caribbean island where he was building his dream home. The 63-year-old charity worker was murdered by a “jealous” tradesman he employed to help decorate the property in preparation for a family visit in summer 2018.Dwayne Barton, 32, was jailed for 27 years and his accomplice, Davian Edwards, 33, for 22 years this week after being found guilty of murder in a trial at St Mary circuit court in Jamaica.Walker, who was born on the island, was 11 years old when he moved to Britain with his parents who were part of the Windrush generation
Labour urged to revive Sure Start label to win back Reform voters
The government should greatly expand family centres under the Sure Start brand to help win back Reform voters in former Labour heartlands, a commission backed by Labour politicians has said.Hilary Armstrong, the Labour peer and former cabinet minister, was among those pressing for a fuller reintroduction of family centres under the Sure Start label, saying it would help to rebuild trust in neighbourhoods damaged by austerity.Armstrong is chair of the Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods, which said its polling showed 62% of people recognised the Sure Start brand, and that 76% would like to see it revived.Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, announced last month that one-stop-shop family hubs similar to Sure Start would be introduced throughout England to give parents advice and support.The £500m project will open up to 1,000 centres from April 2026, meaning every council in England will have a family hub by 2028
Far-right extremists using games platforms to radicalise teenagers, report warns
Far-right extremists are using livestream gaming platforms to target and radicalise teenage players, a report has warned.The new research, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, reveals how a range of extremist groups and individuals use platforms that allow users to chat and livestream while playing video games to recruit and radicalise vulnerable users, mainly young males.UK crime and counter-terror agencies have urged parents to be especially alert to online offenders targeting youngsters during the summer holidays.In an unprecedented move, last week Counter Terrorism Policing, MI5 and the National Crime Agency issued a joint warning to parents and carers that online offenders “will exploit the school holidays to engage in criminal acts with young people when they know less support is readily available”.Dr William Allchorn, a senior research fellow at Anglia Ruskin University’s international policing and public protection research institute, who carried out the study with his colleague Dr Elisa Orofino, said “gaming-adjacent” platforms were being used as “digital playgrounds” for extremist activity
Corbyn’s new party and the menace of populism | Letters
The upcoming launch of a new party by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana (Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana agree to launch leftwing party, 24 July) will inevitably prompt questions about whether this will divide the progressive vote or offer a genuine alternative to Labour’s centrist drift, especially as the Green party continues to grow as a principled voice for environmental and social justice. Although these projects are potential rivals, they need not be.If the disturbing rise of rightwing populism is to be successfully confronted, the left must overcome fragmentation and find ways to coexist and collaborate. The Corbyn-Sultana initiative and the Greens share much common ground: a rejection of austerity, commitment to democratic reform and a belief in economic and ecological justice. Their differences in emphasis, tone and priorities are real but not irreconcilable
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