A Baptist reverend has said that the murder of black teenager Anthony Walker is proves that the “cancer of racism is still rife” in the UK.

Reverend Wale Hudson-Roberts, Racial Justice Co-ordinator for the Baptist Union of Great Britain, said that race relations were now in a ‘precarious space’ and admitted that racism was still a daily reality for young black and Asian people.

“The reality is young innocent black and Asian people are still subject to the horrors of societal racism and its legacy.”

The 18-year-old, a devout Christian, was murdered by a group of men with an axe in the Huyton area of Liverpool on 29 July in what police described as a racially motivated attack.

Mr Hudson-Roberts expressed concern that the killing may have wider repercussions that could ‘set society back’. He called on churches to engage in the education of congregation members in the intolerance of God toward racism.

He said: “Not to do so is to fail to be Christ, because Christ is all-inclusive and all-embracing.”

The reverend said he was ‘deeply saddened’ by the ‘senseless racist attack’ of Mr Walker and extended his prayers and praise to the Walker family: “In the face of enormously painful circumstances, the family’s Christ-like grace has been an example to us all.”