Brody's Notes... Scottish Police Say Man May Have Been Murdered Because He Was Gay

Stuart Walker

By Brody Levesque | CUMNOCK, SCOTLAND -- Police in Ayrshire have launched a murder inquiry after the badly beaten and burnt body of a young man was found tied to a lamppost by the side of a road in Ayrshire, Scotland this past Saturday. The body of Stuart Walker, 28, the former assistant manager at the Royal Hotel in Cumnock, was found on Glaisnock Road, Cumnock, in the early hours on October 22.

A spokeswoman for the Ayshire Constabulary confirmed that Walker's body had scorch marks adding that Walker had not “died from his burns” and that he had suffered terrible injuries in what she described as “a horrific attack.” Police Detectives were not ruling out the possibility that his death was the result of a homophobic attack.

“In terms of claims of his sexuality and lifestyle we are not ruling out any aspect of his life to try and identify why someone would want to kill him," she said.

Streets in the nearby Caponacre Industrial area were sealed off as part of the ongoing investigation. The spokeswoman noted that “his body was scorched but it is believed that this was not the cause of his death. We are looking at CCTV and conducting door to door inquiries in an attempt to piece together Walker’s final hours," she added.

The lead investigator in the case, Detective Inspector John Hogg said:

“Stuart had been out with friends in the Cumnock area earlier during the night and was last seen alive by a family friend near to the fire station in Glaisnock Street around 0230 hours on Saturday morning – nearly two and a half hours before he was found.

It is imperative that we find out where he was between 0230 and 0450 hours, who he was with and why this happened to him.

From our enquiries so far, we understand that there may have been a number of house parties in the nearby Netherthird housing estate in the early hours of the morning – between 0200 and 0300 hours. At this time we do not know if these parties are linked to our investigation or not, so again, any information on that is important."

The Scotsman newspaper wrote about the incident saying:

Kazza Sutherland used to work with Mr Walker at the Royal Hotel.

She said: “Can’t believe this has happened to such a great guy. I hope they catch those who did this to him. Hopefully justice will be served and I hope those who did this go to hell.”

The popular former Cumnock Academy pupil was the subject of countless heartfelt tributes on a Facebook page set up in his honour.

Many friends have paid tribute to the popular man, including Amanda Lindsay, who said: “Poor Stuart can’t believe ur life ended in such a horrific way xx a young man who always had a smile on his face & put a smile on everybody elses face too xx I’m sure ur’s will be the brightest star in the sky xx R.I.P ma lovely.”