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Liverpool Echo

National

Paul McAuley

Model who died after being left in a trunk for days remembered

Echo Iain Watts

The family of a model, who was tragically killed, has remembered him on what would have been his 50th Birthday.

Vanessa Allen, alongside her family and friends, came together to release lanterns for her brother, Nelson Asu, nearly three decades after he was left for dead in a trunk by two men, who pretended to be gay. The group gathered at Allerton Cemetery, where Nelson is buried, on Monday, October 24, to celebrate the milestone birthday.

Vanessa, who lives in Wavertree , told the ECHO : “It was very overwhelming to see everyone come out after all these years. I didn’t expect to see so many people. It was lovely to reminisce and have a drink with everyone in the pub.”

The 52-year-old support worker previously told the ECHO she misses and thinks about her brother “day in and day out” and feels she never got the chance to properly grieve. Nelson was born in Liverpool as the youngest of four siblings, Leon, Jason, Vanessa and himself. Alongside his brothers and sisters, he grew up in Toxteth before moving to High Park Street.

Vanessa explained the two had the type of relationship where they would tell each other everything first before anyone else. Nelson told his sister he was gay before later coming out to his parents at the age of 16, whereas when Vanessa fell pregnant with her daughter Keighley, she knew he needed to know as soon as possible.

She said: “We fought with each other as every brother and sister does. But it was clear that everybody loved him because he was so genuine and for his death to happen was such an utter shock for the whole of the community. If you had seen his funeral you would have understood how liked he was. He was the life of the party.”

Nelson was making strides to get his name known in the modelling industry and after some time his career began to take off. He was offered photoshoots in Manchester and took part in fashion shows at Garlands Nightclub in the city centre. When the ECHO first reported on Nelson's death, his mum, Ella, said: "We were all hoping he would become the male equivalent of Naomi Campbell. He certainly had the looks and the personality."

Nelson Asu's family and friends released lanterns in his memory (Iain Watts)

When he wasn’t posing for the camera, Nelson was a regular on the gay scene, and just like he normally would he went out on November 21, 1996. Attending a gay club, which was then called the She Club on Victoria Street, he met two men who pretended to be gay to gain his trust and around 7.30pm, the three of them made their way back to Nelson’s flat.

At some point in the evening, the two men revealed they were thieves and proceeded to threaten Nelson with a knife, pushed him to the ground and tied him up. Finally, they placed a red cloth over his face and head and as they prepared to leave his flat they forced him into a trunk with no room to move.

Nelson was found on Monday, November 25 1996, when his mother, sister, and sister’s then-partner gained entry to his flat following information that he had not been seen for days. By the time they found him Nelson had been dead for some time, having asphyxiated and choked on his own vomit.

Vanessa said: “It was awful, very traumatic, we were so close growing up so it really hit hard because he was my baby brother. My mum was never the same and she ended up getting sick as well. It was just the worst time of our lives. I was being the strong one, trying to keep everybody together because my mum was absolutely distraught. I nursed my mum through her illness so I never had the time to grieve. We didn’t even celebrate Christmas that year because the death had just happened.”

The next day after Nelson’s body was discovered, Carl Alker, of Old Swan and John Alexander, of Walton, who were 20 and 19 respectively at the time, were apprehended. They initially denied any involvement but were convicted of manslaughter at Liverpool Crown Court in August 1997 and both were handed life sentences. On the day, Mr Justice Sedley told them: "This was a crime of barbaric cruelty. Anyone who has followed the trial realises the dreadful death you left him to die."

Now, 26 years later, Vanessa is shocked that people are still being attacked for being themselves. At the start of this month, the Home Office published statistics which highlighted that hate crimes in some areas across England and Wales had hit a new record high in 2022. The new data, published on Thursday, October 6, detailed at least 155,841 recorded hate crimes between March 2021 and March this year. In the same week, the ECHO reported that attacks on LGBTQ+ people in Liverpool went unpunished as a shocking 95% of hate crimes remain unsolved.

Vanessa said: “I can’t believe it is still happening in this day and age. Something needs to be done, it is horrible to go through and people should look in the newspapers to see what our family went through. It needs to change.”

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