Woman Murdered For Being A Goth

[_liam_]

i think i may have beaten missjackson in the cheery news story stakes Woman 'attacked for being a Goth' dies By Bonnie Malkin and agencies Last Updated: 3:17pm BST 24/08/2007 A 20-year-old woman believed to have been attacked by a gang of youths because she dressed as a Goth has died from her injuries. Woman dies after being attacked for being a Goth Sophie Lancaster was on a gap year when she was attacked Sophie Lancaster was walking through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Lancashire with her boyfriend in the early hours of August 11 when they were assaulted by five teens. Miss Lancaster was left in a coma with serious head and facial injuries. Her boyfriend Robert Maltby, 21, was also left in a coma but has since recovered. A spokesman for Lancashire Police said Miss Lancaster died in hospital from her injuries at 10.15am today. The couple, both from Bacup, have been described as "Goths" and it is understood they had been targeted in the past because of the way they dressed and looked. Five male youths have been already been charged with causing grievous bodily harm with intent. Police said those charges would now be the subject of a review by detectives and the Crown Prosecution Service. advertisement Detective Inspector Dean Holden, who is leading the investigation, said: "It is tragic that this young woman has now died. Our thoughts are obviously with her family." The couple were taken to Rochdale Infirmary before Miss Lancaster was transferred to Fairfield Hospital, Bury, and then Hope Hospital's neurology unit in Salford. A 15-year-old and a 17-year-old have been remanded in custody, while two 15-year-olds and 17-year-old were released on bail. They were all due to appear before Burnley Youth Court on September 27. Mr Maltby, a former Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School pupil, had been going out with Miss Lancaster for around three years. He is studying art in Manchester, while she is understood to have been on a gap year. Both were left with heavily swollen faces and bleeding from their ears and noses following the brutal assault which happened in the skate park area between 1.10am and 1.20am. Miss Lancaster was said to have had a piece of flesh missing from her head where her attackers had pulled out her hair. Police urged anyone with information about the attack to contact Rawtenstall CID or Crimestoppers anonymously. Acting assistant chief constable of Lancashire Police, Jerry Graham, said: "This is a tragic incident which has resulted in the senseless loss of a young and vibrant woman. Lancashire Constabulary sends its sincerest condolences to Sophie's family and friends at this difficult time. "There are, of course, young people in Lancashire and, as we have seen in recent times, all over the country who are intent on disrupting the lives of law-abiding citizens. In the very worst cases, such as this one, their actions have devastating consequences. "Lancashire Constabulary will not tolerate this kind of behaviour, irrespective of the age of the perpetrators, and will take a forceful approach towards tackling it, using all the powers that we have available to the full." He added that care must be taken though not to "demonise" all young people and that there were people of all ages determined to cause trouble. "There is a significant proportion of young people who do not engage in this kind of behaviour and are victims themselves," he said. "Here in Lancashire, we think it is important not to negatively stereotype all of our young people when this kind of incident occurs." Ok, what the hell do the people who did this think of what they did? do they feel bad? do they feel it was perfectly justified? how on earth do you TEAR the flesh from a girl's skull after beating her to death. it defies belief

[major jay]

That's horrifying. It sounds like that area could use a good old fashion hooligan beat down.

[RustyHicks]

It's horrible what they did, disgusting and just downright cruel. So what if she dressed differently, who were they to judge. Sadly I must be honest, those young people that did this, they're probably happy or even laughing and saying "That will teach her kind" I know, cause I have known these kind of people. They have no remorse

[Tricky]

Thats awful,i really dont know whats happening to our society!people seem to be blind to it though,it shocks for a day & then everyone goes back to their lives & nothing is done to change things.We dont have crime like that in our area but seeing it spreading all over the rest of the country is shocking,like that young lad who was shot this week

[MissJacksonCA]

Aw but she looks so cute that's horrific... What the heck is wrong with people

[Cody]

Awful. People have the right who they want to be. Poor girl.

[Neil]

It's horrible what they did, disgusting and just downright cruel. So what if she dressed differently, who were they to judge. Sadly I must be honest, those young people that did this, they're probably happy or even laughing and saying "That will teach her kind" I know, cause I have known these kind of people. They have no remorse It seems a worrying proportion of modern youth have little or no grounding... Everything is easy & on a plate... They haven't a care in the world and care about nothing (that actually matters)... 20-30 years ago I suspect most adults could tell a teenager 'to behave'... These days I suspect a noticable proportion of adults would get a earful of abuse....

[mista_mo]

maybe they read encyclopedia dramatica a ****load? I may not like goths or emos or the like, but i wouldn't condone that kinda action against em..it is just sick.

[_liam_]

how can you dislike a whole subculture of people that kind of attitude is the thin end of the wedge

[Terran]

how can you dislike a whole subculture of people that kind of attitude is the thin end of the wedge Well by the same way someone can disapprove of all of homosexuality by simply saying " I dont aggree with their lifestyle..." Is retarded...and theirs hardly any shortage of the intolerance.... But back to this story...I have trouble attributing it to any popular causality these days...Maybe they were muslim terrorists.....

[mista_mo]

so? i just do not like them, what the hell is the difference? I'm not goign to go out and call them goth fags or make fun of emos by saying they should go slice their wrists or anything. I don't like them because no goth has an actual idea of what being goth is...everyone has a different idea of what it is, and many say it's an ambiguous title. It's the same with emo folk. I know i generalized but i really don't like them. Every single goth i have met has been incredibly ****ed up and just plain weird. honestly, what the hell is the difference if i don't like them or not?

[MissJacksonCA]

Are you serious? Sometimes its hard to tell. Its about beating someone so badly they die and for what? Because they're a goth? God forbid. What's worse is it was a bunch of teenagers... what kind of bizarre rage was lurking within them that would posess them to do such a thing... and for them all to do it together only shows the suceptibility of teenagers to peer pressure... I'm all for treating children like adults in the justice system but the sad thing is what turned those kids into adults and made them commit their crimes... we should punish someone for that too...

[Danny]

how can you dislike a whole subculture of people that kind of attitude is the thin end of the wedge well to be fair i dont dislike em but i do point out to my freinds who believe in it that wicca is a load of bull on a daily basis. actually on topic though 15 year old kids in engladn are almost all ****ing moped riding trackky suit wearing scum *sighs*, its a sad state of affairs.

[MinionZombie]

It's sh*t like this that just screams out: "GET THE COPS OUT OF THE STATIONS WHERE THEY FILL IN RED TAPE PAPERWORK AND GET THEM BACK ONTO THE F*CKING STREETS!!" More CCTV won't help, if you have cops right there when something starts, or there when something could have started but stop it before it starts, that's far better than filming the whole ordeal for the courts, because by the time anyone got to the scene of the crime the victim was dead and the culprits have scarpered. Utterly sickening. While the vast majority of youths will just be pretty much the same as youths from yesteryear (just with iPods now), there is obviously a very dangerous and serious minority that are doing a lot of damage and they need to be stopped - prison needs to be a feared place, and it needs to be a place with many more spaces and a place where the scum are put to work, rather than lying around on their beds.

[Tricky]

20-30 years ago I suspect most adults could tell a teenager 'to behave'... These days I suspect a noticable proportion of adults would get a earful of abuse.... & that would be getting off lightly,most likely you'd be kicked to the ground by about 15 of them & have your head "kicked like a football" as the papers put it,like that bloke last week who told some kids off for throwing a chocolate bar wrapper in a car as they walked past,he was killed for it!