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.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/graphics/2007/08/24/npark.jpg

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.
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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 :rockbrow: that kind of attitude is the thin end of the wedge

[Terran]

how can you dislike a whole subculture of people :rockbrow: 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.....:rolleyes:

[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 :rockbrow: 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!

[_liam_]

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?


well what difference does it make what you think of anything? nothing, but this is a discussion board so people will tend to engage you in discussion.

so you don't like them because there isnt a clear definition of what a goth is?

i think perhaps you are the weird one my friend

[coma]

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.
Prison is a feared place. The problem is the jails are filled with people who wouldnt think they would get caught.
I think it is human nature to fear what you dont understand. The issue is turning that mistrust into hatred and acting on it.

Peer pressure? I am not sure. More like Mob violence. I have been very close to a group of knobs beating the crap out of someone whan I was young. I tried to stop it but I couldnt and almost became a victim myself. But I did stop it by reminding them this might lead them back to prison. Which woke them up and made them retreat. I helped the guy out but it was am awful experience for both of us. I dont understand the violent inpulse, to pick someone out and maul them.


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?
Do you know what a goth actually is?
I knew a lot when I was in art school and most of them were very nice and harmless. Variations is opinion and lifestyle is to be applauded not condemned. Your argument is one for conformity. When you open your mind you realize there are good people everywhere, in all varieties.

[_liam_]

aye i agree prison is feared, the problem is they think they wont get caught.
the police need to be feared more.

as for the impulse to beat on people, i just really dont get it either. is there a type of person that does this? is it a nature or nurture issue? it really is baffling.

the idea of just jumping someone and kicking them in the face makes me feel sick, so what these guys did to that girl is just.. alien


When you open your mind you realize there are good people everywhere, in all varieties.

word. that sober comment says more than my thinly veiled bitching ever could.

this is why i cant stand hating on any group/subculture, whether it be goths, punks, chavs, black people, christians, muslims, police, horror movie fans, sci fi geeks, stoners, whatever.

[MissJacksonCA]

Wiccans are like vegans to me... I dont like 'em I dont agree with 'em but hey... if it makes you happy and it doesn't hurt anyone else... by all means... enjoy! Its kinda like Republicans... suuuure I dong agree with them on many things but hell I wouldn't want to vanquish them from the face of the earth... life is just more interesting when there's a plethora of different people... who wants to be surrounded by people just like them all the time?

[_liam_]

indeed. i stand firm in my beliefs but i am open to the idea that someone i dont agree with might be able to teach me something. as such i defend people's right to have retarded opinions, because they might not be as retarded as they seem.

that said i will question any opinions i find suspicious in some way

[fartpants]

the problem wth todays teenagers is that the have no fear and respect for adults. Parents, teachers and even the police cannot lay a hand on a juvenile no matter what they have done ( parents cannot even smack their own children any more) so kids know they can literally get away with murder...

[Terran]

I dont understand the violent inpulse, to pick someone out and maul them.


You dont have to look far.....


“Lethal coalitionary aggression is part of the natural behavioral repertoire of chimpanzees,” writes David Watts of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, in one such report, scheduled to be presented April 9 at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Physical Anthropologists in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.


Wrangham, who has been studying chimpanzees in the wild for over 30 years, certainly knows a thing or two about warfare — at least as it pertains to apes. In the early ’70s, he was among the first primatologists to note the tendency of chimpanzees to conduct so-called lethal raids against neighboring groups — a momentous discovery. In his 1996 book Demonic Males (Houghton Mifflin), a study of chimpanzee aggression, he describes one such attack:


"The raiders rushed madly down the slope to their target. While Goliath screamed and the patrol hooted and displayed, he was held and beaten and kicked and lifted and dropped and bitten and jumped on.... His aggressors showed their excitement in a continuous barrage of hooting and drumming and charging and branch-waving and screaming."

Even more daunting is the fact that chimpanzees are not only capable of the same kinds of group aggression that we are, they’re also capable of the same kind of wanton barbarity. In Wrangham’s office there is a picture of a corpse — a chimpanzee who has been set upon by aggressors. The animal is lying face down, frozen into a kind of crucifixion pose, as if he had died while being pinned down. Strips of skin have been peeled from his body. He bears the marks of countless puncture wounds and contusions. In another photograph, one of the victim’s blue-gray testicles lies nestled in the brush. The chimpanzee had been tortured to death.

[Neil]

You dont have to look far.....

Holy f***!?! Where is that quote from?

[Terran]

Which quote the second or the first one?

[Tricky]

The word we're looking for is "impulse control",we all have dark,nasty & violent thoughts at times,some of which seem to come from nowhere & can scare the crap out of you!its part of "the human condition" but most of us have impulse control that filters & regulates these thoughts so we dont act on them.

[coma]

You dont have to look far.....
See the evidence mounts that humans ARE NOT the only assholes in the world. It has always been claimed that humans are the only ones to kill for neither defense or food. WRONG.

And animals can be gay too.

I guess the wanton debauchery just gets spread all around

Very interesting post. Thanks Terran

[MinionZombie]

The word we're looking for is "impulse control",we all have dark,nasty & violent thoughts at times,some of which seem to come from nowhere & can scare the crap out of you!its part of "the human condition" but most of us have impulse control that filters & regulates these thoughts so we dont act on them.
So what you're saying is, that we need some kind of drug to induce impulse control again...perhaps something in the water, or a certain brand of alco-pop aimed at these twat-faced kids? I like it...or perhaps a squad of ninjas ... similar to my idea for neutering ninjas ... who sneak into these bastard's houses and inject them with impulse control juice. :sneaky:

Not a hint of sarcasm throughout that post actually...if only it were possible for those ninjas to exist and solve our problems via "ninja medicine".

[Tricky]

So what you're saying is, that we need some kind of drug to induce impulse control again...perhaps something in the water, or a certain brand of alco-pop aimed at these twat-faced kids? I like it...or perhaps a squad of ninjas ... similar to my idea for neutering ninjas ... who sneak into these bastard's houses and inject them with impulse control juice. :sneaky:

Not a hint of sarcasm throughout that post actually...if only it were possible for those ninjas to exist and solve our problems via "ninja medicine".

Nah nothing like that,but impulse control is learned by a good upbringing & a good understanding of the dire consequences of acting on violent or antisocial thoughts etc,there will always be people who will act on those urges regardless though,they are defined as psychopaths/sociopaths but thats a whole different ballgame to kids who just havent learned right from wrong & respect for society

[Danny]

yknow i may soudn like my grandad for a second but some kids really would have grown up better if they got a smack on the arse when they were bad.

[_liam_]

gawd lets not go there :rolleyes:

i think the pathology of all that is too complex, i got smacked as a kid and ive been arrested, used drugs, got into fights etc etc, my girlfriend on the other hand was never smacked and she's a straight A student who's never been in trouble with anyone in her whole life.

go figure

[MinionZombie]

gawd lets not go there :rolleyes:

i think the pathology of all that is too complex, i got smacked as a kid and ive been arrested, used drugs, got into fights etc etc, my girlfriend on the other hand was never smacked and she's a straight A student who's never been in trouble with anyone in her whole life.

go figure
Buuuuuuuuuuuut... I was smacked as a kid and I've never been in trouble with the cops, I don't steal, I don't do drugs, I rarely drink, I prefer to be honest, I like helping people, I like my family, I've never gotten into a fist fight with anybody...

But kids these days, the ones running wild, they need a good slap and a finger right in their face and a bellowing "SHUT THE F*CK UP AND LEARN SOME F*CKING RESPECT!!" Treat others like you'd wanna be treated, bad actions lead to bad consequences. Too many parents these days are having kids without realising they need to give sh*t up, parenthood is about sacrificing yourself in order to give your kid a proper start - not dumping them in front of a screen and sh*tting off to the pub every other night, chain smoking in their face and never taking any interest in their education.

Hence - neutering ninjas! :cool:

[GhostWolf]

I dont think police, be it there in england, or here in the states are effective anymore. With the legal system the way it is, people can get away with a ton of crap they couldn't have say ten or twenty years ago. Police are restricted from doing what's right for fear of some sort of suit brought against their department.

As for this sort of senseless violence... There was a time when i'd agree that things such as this should be handled in a civilized manner. Arrests should be made, and people taken to trial. However, due to various experiances i've had in the past two or three years, i now say that it should be met with equal or greater violence. Those kids should be rounded up, tied to chairs, and beaten to death with blunt and heavy objects.

[MissJacksonCA]

let the punishment fit the crime :mad:

[_liam_]

Buuuuuuuuuuuut... I was smacked as a kid and I've never been in trouble with the cops, I don't steal, I don't do drugs, I rarely drink, I prefer to be honest, I like helping people, I like my family, I've never gotten into a fist fight with anybody...


just proves my point - the pathology is too complex.

my dad got smacked and he was in the military, responsible guy, never arrested etc etc.

its too complex an issue for us to say "smack them and they will turn out alright". i think its many many things that make a good parent, and as such it's many many things (or lack of) that cause a kid to turn out bad

[AcesandEights]

Those kids should be rounded up, tied to chairs, and beaten to death with blunt and heavy objects.

Yeah, I don't think that's the answer. Victims can feel that way and, in many cases, I think it's normal for them to want revenge during at least some stage of the recovery process. Coincidentally, there are countries that deal with crime like this, but I don't think you'd ever earnestly consider moving to any of them...or maybe you would, but I know I wouldn't.

I won't speak about the UK, but there's no doubt in my mind, that the whole system needs an overhaul in the US. Not just the courts and law enforcement, but the whole penal system needs a re-working (and no, I don't think privatization is the answer).

[MinionZombie]

Basically, smacking along with proper parenting, is fine.

If it's all smacks and no love, that's useless. If it's all "you do what you want and you can control us", then the little sh*t will go out of control, with neither they're ignored - so a balanced diet of discipline and love & respect is the order of the day.

[Dommm]

Its all crap, 20 years ago the same hooligans were beating on asians or blacks, now its goths, hate for hates sake. there is no reasoning behind it they just want to hurt someone.

[DjfunkmasterG]

The kids responsible for this deserve to be ass raped with a broom handle that has nails sticking out of it.

[MontagMOI]

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....

You are so right, mate. It makes me sick.

Sophie Lancaster. R.I.P.
Another bright prospect that had much to offer destroyed by those that have nothing to offer


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.

Yep.


let the punishment fit the crime :mad:

I agree with you 100% MissJackson.



The kids responsible for this deserve to be ass raped with a broom handle that has nails sticking out of it.

You got that right DJ.

[Danny]

The kids responsible for this deserve to be ass raped with a broom handle that has nails sticking out of it.

gross, continue.