Former Coronation Street actress Julie Hesmondhalgh has paid a touching tribute to Sylvia Lancaster, describing her as a 'force for good and inclusion'. Campaigning Sylvia worked tirelessly to combat prejudice, hatred and intolerance after the shocking murder of her 20-year-old daughter, Sophie, in 2007 - setting up the Sophie Lancaster Foundation in her name.
Sophie and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, were attacked by a gang in a park in Bacup, Lancashire, with Sophie dying from her injuries 13 days later. Sylvia's sudden death at Blackburn Hospital on Tuesday morning was confirmed by the foundation - who said she 'put her energy into championing people from alternative subcultures and creating educational programmes to tackle prejudice and intolerance'.
Accrington-born Julie, who played Hayley Cropper in the long-running soap, was a patron and long-standing supporter of the foundation. In 2012, she appeared at the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester, portraying Sylvia in the critically-acclaimed 'Black Roses: The Killing Of Sophie Lancaster', a play based on the real-life story of Sophie.
