Increased racial tensions in Peterborough, England following the September 11 attacks result in the murder of Ross Parker by a gang of ten Muslims in a racially motivated attack.
Ross Andrew Parker (17 August 1984 21 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.
Peterborough ( (listen)) is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in Cambridgeshire, England, with a population of 202,110 in 2017. Originally part of Northamptonshire, it became part of Cambridgeshire from 1974. The city is 76 mi (122 km) north of London, on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea 30 mi (48 km) to the north-east. The railway station is an important stop on the East Coast Main Line between London and Edinburgh.
The local topography is flat, and in some places the land lies below sea level, for example in parts of the Fens to the east of Peterborough. Human settlement in the area began before the Bronze Age, as can be seen at the Flag Fen archaeological site to the east of the current city centre, also with evidence of Roman occupation. The Anglo-Saxon period saw the establishment of a monastery, Medeshamstede, which later became Peterborough Cathedral.
The population grew rapidly after the railways arrived in the 19th century, and Peterborough became an industrial centre, particularly known for its brick manufacture. After the Second World War, growth was limited until designation as a New Town in the 1960s. Housing and population are expanding and a £1-billion regeneration of the city centre and immediately surrounding area is under way. Industrial employment has fallen since then, a significant proportion of new jobs being in financial services and distribution.