Gavin Hopley
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Gavin Hopley (born 22 Mar 1982 - 22 February 2002) was a white 19-year-old security guard from Whitworth, Rossendale, England. On Sunday 15 February 2002, when returning from a night out with friends in Oldham, he was confronted by several Asian men and racially abused and violently attacked, causing him to lose consciousness and be hospitalised.
He failed to recover from his injuries and died a week later in North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester.
Although the police made several arrests and managed to secure a number of convictions for violent conduct and affray, no one has ever been convicted of Hopley's murder. The BNP website contrasted this with the murder of the black teenager Stephen Lawrence, for which there were also no convictions, claiming the murder of Lawrence, and the subsequent public inquiry into police failures, attracted more media attention than the murder of Hopley.
The right-wing British National Party, active in Oldham, has attempted to use Gavin's death to support their allegations that anti-white racism is given a lower priority than racism directed at minority ethnic communities. In response, the police and the NUJ accused the BNP of seeking to capitalise on the situation for political gain. [1] One of the songs authored by the BNP mentions Gavin Hopley's murder as one of the "ills" brought to Britain by Muslim immigrants.
The BNP also held a demonstration outside the London headquarters of the National Union of Journalists[2]. A memorial plaque erected by the BNP was removed by the local authority, and Hopley's family have declined to be associated with the BNP's activities.
