LIVERPOOL, England, Sept 23 (AFP) - Walton, a quiet suburb of Liverpool, northwest England, was a sombre place Thursday as the community prepared to hear the worst about one of its native sons, an engineer captured by Islamic extremists in Iraq.
"Hopes fade," read the headline of the evening edition of the Liverpool Echo newspaper, referring to the fate of Kenneth Bigley, 62, who, it is feared, could be executed at any moment by Islamic extremists.
At a conference hall in the centre of Liverpool, Bigley's elderly mother Elizabeth made a heart-wrenching plea for mercy to be shown to her son, who his captors say will die unless female Iraqi prisoners held by the US-led coalition are released.
"He is only a working man who wants to support his family. Please show mercy to Ken and send him home to me alive," said the 86-year-old, barely capable of speaking because of her distress.
"His family need him and I need him," she said before breaking down.
As words failed her she muttered "that's not much good", summing up the fears of many in Bigley's home city.
A woman who lives opposite Elizabeth Bigley on Bedford Road told AFP earlier: "Personally, I don't hold out much hope for him. I think he is just living on borrowed time."
"Everyone's just feeling for the family. I just can't begin to imagine what they are going through," she said, adding that she had been glued to the television all day for news from Iraq.
Opposite the blinds were drawn at the Bigley's red-bricked family home.
At one point a woman approached the house and posted something through the letter-box.
"It was just a little (Roman Catholic) Mass card," explained Pat Kelly. "The family are going through hell and back at this time."
"I don't think many people here have had much sleep," she said. "We are all watching the news, praying that he will be released."
Bigley, whose two fellow hostages, both American, have already been executed by the Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War) group, made an emotional appeal to British Prime Minister Tony Blair late Wednesday to save his life on a video posted by his abductors on the Internet.
In the video, Bigley -- born and bred in Liverpool and a staunch supporter of the city's Everton football team -- said he was from Walton and made a direct appeal to the people of his home city.
People on the streets of the city answered his call Thursday by telling Blair to do all he can.
"This man is going through hell and Tony Blair has the power to stop him being killed," Claire Webster, 26, told the Echo.
"They should pull out all the stops," she said. "Sorting this out should be the only thing Tony Blair is doing at the moment."
Prayers were said by several hundred people at a midnight vigil on Tuesday night at Walton Parish Church, at the end of the road and on Wednesday morning by the pupils of nearby Walton Saint Mary's Primary School.
One of Bigley's three brothers, Paul, based in Amsterdam, has slammed Blair for not answering the demands of the terrorists, who want a pair of female Iraqi prisoners held by the US-led coalition to be released.
However not all in Walton agree that Bigley should be saved at any cost.
"We would like him to get away, but if it means letting those people (the Iraqi prisoners) go, it just means giving leeway to the kidnappers to do what they like," said Marion Shiells at the furniture shop she has run on Bedford Road for 22 years.
"It's so sad," Shiells, 67, told AFP. "It's the mum and the family I feel sorry for.