A 15-year-old boy was found guilty of murder on Thursday after he kicked a woman to death because she was a "Goth". Brendan Harris was found guilty at Preston Crown Court of killing Sophie Lancaster after she was attacked in a park in Burnley, Lancashire, last August. The 20-year-old gap year student had been with her boyfriend Robert Maltby when a group of youngsters set upon him in an unprovoked attack. She begged them to stop, but was kicked and punched too. The pair were left unconscious. Lancaster's injuries were described as so bad that it was difficult at first to tell what sex she was. The jury heard the couple were attacked because they were wearing "Goth" clothing. Followers of the "Goth" subculture, which began in Britain during the early 1980s in the gothic rock scene, stand out because of their black clothes and make-up. Maltby, 21, survived, but Lancaster died from serious head injuries two weeks after the incident. Harris pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Maltby, but had denied attacking Lancaster. Another youth, Ryan Herbert, 16, had earlier pleaded guilty to the murder of Lancaster and causing grievous bodily harm to Maltby. A judge lifted a ban on identification of the two. Three other males, two aged 17 and one 16, who still cannot be named, also admitted causing grievous bodily harm with intent to Maltby. Murder charges against the three were withdrawn. Lancaster's mother, Sylvia, said after the case that she had received thousands of messages of support from around the world. "Sophie was a thoughtful, sensitive individual and she would not have wanted her death to have been in vain. "I hope, therefore, that as a society we can use what has happened to reflect on where we are going and what changes we need to make to prevent others suffering in this way." Senior Investigating Officer Detective Inspector Dean Holden from Lancashire Constabulary, said: "This was a tragic and senseless killing of a young woman and a vicious and unprovoked attack on a young man in a quiet town. "To my mind, this stands as a fine example of how anti-social behaviour mixed with alcohol abuse can accelerate from low level disorder to extreme violence." Harris and the others are due to be sentenced on April 28.
i cannot comprehend the mindless violence which resulted in this beautiful young woman dying. there's a feeling amongst people of a certain age in the UK that we're experiencing an epidemic of extreme violence amongst teenagers. i'm not sure how true this is, but theres a definite problem with teenage gangs kicking innocent people to death.
makes me glad I live in Australia. Not many people have a problem with the way others dress. I feel sorry for the friends and family of the young woman.
We get it quite a lot here near me. At night there are always gangs down in the centre of the village and they give anybody that dresses differently a lot of grief. It is most definitely sick and pathetic, we should have the right to dress how we wish to dress.
I think what stuck in my mind about this case is the reaction of the mother with her son, apparently according to bbc website they were laughing and joking in the interview room together, clearly showing lack of understanding at how serious kicking someone to death is - in fact i think the judge criticized the parents attitudes and behaviour - there does seem to be a lack of shame amongst some people, where they'll just make excuses or criticise the other party rather than be ashamed of their children which they should. Also I don't think drink should be much of a factor, or excuse for the behaviour - drinking just lowers inhibitions it doesn't change what kind of a person you are.
Killing anyone is wrong but killing someone because they choose to look different is sick and evil we all have the right as individuals to look how we damn well wish. It just shows the parents themselves are as stupid as their kids.
The first thing that crossed my mind was that the group who set upon the attack must've been a gang. And if not a gang, then most certainly kids who are spurred on by this gang-related culture we're seeing in Britain. Is there a link to this article?
For some reason, one of the first things that poppoed into my mind when I saw this thread was A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess .
My preconception proved to be right. According to the article: The drunk teenager was among a gang of five who "savagely and mercilessly" attacked Sophie Lancaster, 20, and her boyfriend, Preston Crown Court heard.
a more localised version of the story from the Manchester Evening News. there are loads of comments on the story as well... http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/s/1042847_guilty_verdict_in_sophie_killing
This stuff is b**ls**t. And I'm glad to say.....people may have notions about Indians bein terrorists and stuff, which is wrong, but they can never under any circumstance even suspect we will or can do this. Even though an Indian woman is supposd to wear a Saree, and the girls salwar-kameez, but no one would say anything to you if you chose to wear somethng else, yeah, we can't go around romaing in beaches in bikinis, but not because of what people would say, it's just because we've been brought up that way, I for one don't wear shorts or short skirts, and even feel embarrased around my father in long skirts and seevelesses, but not becaus he'd say anything to me. He's never once tried to stop me from getting black stuff, just because I would be called "goth, even though my mother doesn't allow, but it's just cause she tells me, I have too much black in my closet, and thinks I'm turning Emo. In fact no one stopped me from applying heavy eye-liner too, thugh now I' not allowed, since that hell of a Doc told the it won't be good for my eyes. But still..... Leave alone the big towns......in Ddun no one gives a s**t, how I dress, I might go around in speckedees and midis and wraparons for all they care, even in Nainital, no one would dare to say or even mention the words "evil because goth" or something like that in front of me, they would know I would beat the hell out of them. Also they don't care, there's no need to fret over me , because there are enough angels of beauty shashaying around in white to worry about me. I guess I went slightly off topc, but still what happened to that girl wringed my heart. That's so cheap! Some people need to get a life, and maybe start living in the present.
yeah this **** is waaay harsh. Killing someone is wrong, but just because they dress in black leather etc is even more wrong. In my home town we have a little bit of trouble with gangs of half-cast(half blood aboriginals) who start fights, often ending in serious injury and occasionally death for the fun of it. It has been sussed out that if you want to survive, you don't walk the streets at night unless your in a group of at least seven. And if your presented with a situation in which you cant run, yell and make a lot of noise and fight as hard as you can.
i think killing is wrong no matter what you do it for. worse off they were drunk, in a gang and vindictive to boot. sometime you just wonder WHY!!!
Just think, I'm applying for the Police Force and Prison Service. This is the kind of people I will spend a considerible amount of my life working with.
Actually, there's a great deal of applicants whose main interest of applying for the Police Force is to purely get a hand on this endemic violence. Especially dealing with gangs and bringing them down to justice.
All I can say is that its sa dthing to be kicked to death. the amount of pain they must have went through. I feel sorry for them. I wonder what went on in the boys head to kick someone to death just because she was an individual. Just because she was she. Violence is a cruel beast.
I think this quote fits in nicely here : "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he, himself, does not become a monster.'' Friedrich Nietzche
