Just a mention of the popular 28-year-old's name reduces people to tears in close-knit town where he was murdered
Simply mentioning Stuart Walker in the Royal hotel in Cumnock, where he used to work, reduces some staff to tears. It's the same at the bar next door: drop his name into conversation with the barmaid and her eyes fill, she ducks her head, mumbles an apology and runs into the back room. At the local hairdressers, all chatter ceases when the name of the young barman is brought up. In the chip shop across the cobbled square, people stop eating and silently push their food around their plates.
The small community of Cumnock, in East Ayrshire, is in shock after the horrific murder of 28-year-old Walker last Saturday. The details of the killing are, Strathclyde police say, too disturbing to describe in detail.
They cannot rule out that a weapon was used in the attack, that a gang was responsible, or that Walker was tortured before he was killed. It is enough, they say, to describe the murder as "horrific" and the attack "extremely violent and sustained".
Four days after the scorched, battered and half-naked body was found on an open patch of land 10 minutes' walk from the town centre, it is the only topic on people's minds. In queues at the supermarket, outside the kebab shop and in any of the half-dozen pubs in the town, small groups of people linger with heads bowed, talking only about the murder.
Slowly, however, as the shock recedes, other emotions are emerging. At the forefront is anger. Anger that, in a town that has had more than its fair share of difficulties and hardships ? the pit closures of the last century leading to a high level of poverty and unemployment ? anyone could do this on their doorstep, to one of their own.
It was early on Saturday, at 4.50am, that Walker's body was discovered by two members of the public on a grass verge overlooked by the Netherthird estate, where he is said to have attended at least one house party.
Lying between industrial units, a public car park and a local college, the area is dark and deserted at that time of night, notorious only as a favourite place for teenagers to race their cars. Now the grass is hidden beneath a confusion of bouquets, flags, soft toys and messages wrapped in plastic bags to protect them from the Scottish weather.
At night, someone comes out to light a dozen candles in vases. Dog walkers who pass kneel in the damp and darkness to relight the flames that have blown out.
One of the many aspects that haunt the community is the openness with which the murder was carried out. "OK, it happened late at night but that street corner is completely exposed. You can see it from half a mile away.
"Anyone out with their dog, like me tonight, could have walked by and seen what was going on," said one local resident, who asked not to be named. "What the hell is going on in this town? Why did this happen?"
The most prominent theory as to why Walker was murdered is that it was a homophobic crime. Police have been at pains to calm suspicions that Walker's open homosexuality was a motive for the attack with detectives emphasising that they are keeping an open mind. Walker's background is not, they say, "forming part of the police inquiry".
But, they add, "we do not believe that this was a random attack and do not anticipate a recurrence of this type of attack".
Nevertheless, the suggestion that the murder was linked to Walker's sexuality triggered a frenzy among the wider Scottish gay and lesbian community. "There was a real sense of panic across Scotland, it was quite frantic," said Colin Macfarlane, of Stonewall in Edinburgh. "Twitter and Facebook were blazing with people discussing their fears."
In Cumnock, however, the suggestion that Walker was killed because of his sexuality triggers fury. "It's disgusting. It's absolutely shocking to realise such a thing can happen here ? and if it turns out to be linked to him being gay, then I'll go absolutely mad. We can't still be having that sort of thing happening, not here, not in Cumnock, not in this day and age," said Emma Smith, a friend of Walker.
One thing that is quickly obvious about Cumnock is its tolerance. The Glasgow-based Herald newspaper recently reported a fivefold rise in homophobic crime in Scotland in the past five years, but that didn't take into account legislation, enacted last year, requiring police to treat hate crimes against LGBT people in the same way as hate crimes against race and religion.
In fact, says Macfarlane, most research shows Scotland is making massive leaps towards tolerance. The most recent Scottish social attitudes survey showed 61% of Scots supported equal marriages.
"It was a landmark moment," he said. "Most people in Scotland want to live in a tolerant, forward-thinking country." But he added: "Stonewall is still here and we're still very busy, so it can't be denied there is still an awful lot of work still to do to bring that about."
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.
One openly gay man talked of walking into a working man's pub recently on his own, and being accepted without hesitation by the community of drinkers inside. Others talked of how there had never been any need to form any sort of "gay community" or favour certain pubs or areas of town, because there had never been a feeling they were considered different or singled out.
They fear that will now change. "Cumnock has always been a place where people accept life and accept each other," said one lesbian woman, who preferred to remain anonymous. "It's not necessarily a positive thing: they don't sit around and moan about deprivation or the fact their children are unemployed, they just accept it. It's the same with accepting each other: there's really no racism or homophobia here. People don't seem to judge each other: they just get on with life."
There is a dignity to those living in the town. Refusing to gossip about Walker or his death, they also refuse to speculate about the murder ? or murderers.
"Obviously we want the murderer ? or murderers to be found ? and I think there's so much anger in town that if anyone knew who it was, they'd either tell the police or tell someone who would go to the police ? but a witch-hunt of local people? That's not right," said a local hairdresser.
Adam Ingram, the local MSP, is also sceptical that the murder is linked to homophobia.
"We're all Jock Tamson's bairns," he said, using a well-known Scottish phrase meaning "we're all the same". "In an old mining town there is an ingrained sense that you look out for each other, no matter what your differences ? because every family has its differences. I've been struck by how tolerant Cumnock is but don't forget: this is Keir Hardie's stamping ground. We're socialist and working-class. We stick together."
One of the many reasons Walker's murder has hit the community so badly is because, said Ingram, it was beginning to hope its fortunes had finally turned.
Cumnock is a poor area: 23% of the population are officially judged to be "deprived", compared to a Scottish national average of 14%. Almost 12% of 16- to 24-year-olds claim jobseeker's allowance, compared to the Scottish average of almost 6%. The overall proportion claiming key benefits is 21.8%, against a national average of 13%.
Thanks to Prince Charles, however, Cumnock has recently become a byword for regeneration and a wellspring of employment. Known as the Duke of Rothesay when in Scotland, the prince recently saved the Scottish stately home of Dumfries House, near Cumnock, in a deal worth �45m. In doing so, he created more than 100 jobs in the town, which has a population of just 13,000.
Now that the prince's charitable foundation has restored the house's furniture, textiles and paintwork, attention has turned to creating a sustainable working farm to secure income. There are plans to open a training centre for traditional craft and hospitality skills. The foundation stone for a 77-acre model village, Knockroon ? effectively an extension to Cumnock ? was laid this summer.
Stately home or not, Emma Smith will defend Cumnock to the last: "I like living here. Everyone knows each other and their business. There are good people here. Great people, actually."
Walker, who had recently moved away to start a new job in Kilmarnock, was still fond enough of his home town ? where his large family still live ? to come back frequently to visit friends and, as on the night he died, to go to parties.
A memorial gathering on Sunday attracted at least 200 people, with Chinese lanterns floating up into the sky. Smith said this was typical of the area. "Everyone feels the same. The sense of utter revulsion we all feel over Stuart's murder has bought us together, even tighter than we were before."
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/26/stuart-walker-death-cumnock-shock
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