Brothers sentenced for 1984 murder during campaign targeting gay men
Michael Stewart and Anthony Stewart (Met Police)
More than four decades after the murder of Anthony Littler, two brothers have been jailed for killing the 45-year-old civil servant during what a judge described as a sustained campaign of violence targeting men they believed were gay.
Michael Stewart, 57, and Anthony Stewart, 60, were convicted of Littler’s murder following a trial at the Old Bailey in London this June. On Friday (10 July), Anthony Stewart, whom the judge said likely delivered the fatal blow, was sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Michael Stewart, who acted as a lookout during the attack, received a 10-year sentence. The brothers had denied any involvement, as reported by Sky News.
Michael and Anthony Stewart allegedly ambushed 45-year-old civil servant Anthony Littler as he walked alone down an alleyway in East Finchley in the early hours of 1 May 1984. The brothers were aged 15 and 18 at the time of Littler’s death.
Littler was heading home after an evening in a Surrey pub for a meeting of “The Society for the Preservation of Beers from the Wood” when he was hit twice over the head with blunt weapons.
He was found mortally wounded from two skull fractures and a “catastrophic brain injury” half an hour after the attack. His briefcase, credit cards and £80 in cash were still on him when he was found.
The case remained cold for almost 30 years, despite police efforts to catch the culprits and an appeal for leads from BBC Crimewatch and ITV’s Police 5.
The Stewart brothers told police, who were going house-to-house for information, in 1984 that they were both at home at the time of the attack and that they never used the alleyway in which his body was found.
However, new information came to light on the 29th anniversary of Littler’s death when Michael and Anthony Stewart’s younger brother, Daniel, came forward following a family argument. Police reopened the investigation in 2022 and began a covert investigation into the brothers.
Jurors at the Old Bailey trial on 20 April heard that Daniel Stewart told police that his brothers had confessed to killing Littler and had boasted about “queer bashing”.
Michael Stewart also allegedly confessed to a girlfriend and had even shown her the scene of the crime, with the court hearing that Michael had a “loose tongue” surrounding Littler’s killing.
“You will hear that this was not the only time that Michael Stewart, Anthony Stewart and others associated with them used violence on a solitary man they did not know, in a public place,” Prosecutor John Price KC told jurors.
“By the spring of 1984, it is alleged by the prosecution that for quite a while this had been a habit or hobby of theirs,” he continued. “It was something they enjoyed doing. They had begun by targeting men whom they thought might be homosexual men.”
After 41 years, the family of Anthony Littler – there was no evidence he was gay – has finally seen those responsible held accountable.
