A mum whose daughter was kicked to death because she was a goth has spoken out as one of the killers is set to be released from prison.
Sylvia Lancaster lost daughter Sophie in 2007 after she set upon while out with boyfriend Robert Maltby.
Sophie was brutally injured and even had trainer marks on the side of her face where they’d kicked her head like a football in the vicious assault, which left her in a coma before she died in hospital.
Her death was even portrayed as a storyline on Coronation Street, which saw goth Nina Lucas and boyfriend Seb Franklin attacked for the way they dressed and saw Seb die from his injuries, after mum Sylvia collaborated with the soap's writers.
Now Sylvia has spoken out as Sophie's killer Ryan Herbert, who was sentenced in 2008 to life with a minimum term of 16 years, is set to be freed.
Herbert, who was 16 at the time of the murder, had his sentence reduced to 14 and a half years on appeal.
A Parole Board last week said Herbert, now 30, can be released from prison after making “significant changes to his life”.
Speaking to the Guardian, Sylvia said: "Fourteen years ago he was given a 16-year sentence. What are they saying? Are they saying that the crime is not as important as it was then? I find that quite a difficult concept to deal with.
"People will say he’s done his time. That’s all right for him and his family. What about me and mine? When do we finish doing our time? Not only does it take your daughter’s life and her future, in reality they take your future as well.
“As a family, you’ve got justice – or as much justice as you’re ever going to get, and you know that. And then to start chipping away at it is really quite insulting. Once again, it seems that everything is focused on the perpetrator. Where is the victim’s voice in all of this?”
Sylvia added that she felt fed up and ignored after voicing her opinions at previous hearings, only to be ignored.
Speaking to the Mirror last year Sylvia said that the loss of Sophie was such a waste.
"Sophie had just hit her teens when she first started dressing in the goth way. She dyed her hair jet black and styled it in dreadlocks, and she wore a dog collar around her neck.
"She’d come home pleased with the latest black dress she’d bought or show off a new face piercing.
"I thought she looked beautiful and very cool. At just over 5ft and very petite, she’d always been such a quiet, shy girl, so I was pleased that she was learning to express herself. Her new look seemed to give her more confidence.
"The last time I saw her, she and Rob came over for her weekly visit to me and her brother Adam, who was 21 at the time.
"I remember her curled up on the sofa with Rob, making a fuss of my cats and we talked about music.
"Driving them home later, something made me say, “Be careful walking around in the dark around here.”
"I knew the way they looked stuck out in the small town of Bacup where they were living.
"'I’m not that stupid, Mum, don’t worry,' Sophie reassured me.
"A week later, on Saturday morning, 11 August 2007, I’d just popped out to the shops to buy food for her visit the next day when I got a call from Sophie’s brother Adam.
"Sophie had been attacked and was in intensive care in hospital.
"The police said a group of teenagers at Stubbylee Park had started calling Sophie and Rob freaks. Then they attacked Rob, beating and kicking him until he lost consciousness.
"As Sophie cradled his head and tried to make them stop, they attacked her, punching her and kicking her in the head.
"When I got to the hospital and saw Sophie lying there, connected to tubes and machines, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. She’d been so badly beaten I barely recognised her. Her head and face were swollen and she was black and blue.
"There were even trainer marks on the side of her face where they’d kicked her head like a football. It was horrific.
"I just couldn’t understand how anyone could do this to another human being.
"The doctors were hopeful she’d recover, but as she lay there motionless, I felt helpless. I talked to her or read to her from her Harry Potter books, willing her to wake up.
"Knowing how important her hair was to her, I gently waxed her dreadlocks, as she’d shown me, and a nurse helped me to wash her, which felt very special.
"We heard that Rob had woken from his coma and was likely to make a full recovery, but Sophie’s condition worsened.
"Finally, after a series of scans, we were told she wouldn’t recover. Her brain was too badly damaged.
"Thirteen days after the attack, the machines keeping her alive were turned off. I held her in my arms as she died, telling her I loved her, that I’d miss her forever and that I’d do everything I could to stop this happening again."
