She was innocently walking home through a park with her boyfriend when violence erupted. Sophie Lancaster was taunted by groups of youths and mocked for how she looked. She was pushed to the ground, kicked and viciously stamped on, to the point she was hospitalised and relying on life support.
It is little over 15 years ago to the day - August 24 2007 - that Sophie Lancaster's mum Sylvia made the heart wrenching decision to turn off her life support as doctors said she had no chance of survival. She died 20 minutes later. She was killed just because she looked different.
It was the early hours of August 11 when Sophie and her boyfriend Robert Maltby came across the gang of youths in Stubbylee Park. As the young couple crossed the skatepark, dressed in their heavy boots and goth-style clothing they were subjected to jeers of "mosher", "weirdo" and "freak" as the gang taunted them for the way they dressed.
