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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
James Holt

The mum who lost her daughter for simply being different

Sylvia Lancaster lost her daughter simply because she was different. Her child Sophie merely stood out from the crowd, with black and red dreadlocked hair and 'goth'-like clothing.

But it was the very way that she looked that led her to be brutally murdered when innocently walking home with her boyfriend in Bacup in 2007. She had become the target of a horrendous mob attack by a gang - for just being herself.

The 20-year-old was kicked to death for being a goth in Stubbylee Park. It was a heinous crime that shook the nation, but spurred on her mother Sylvia to use her grief as passion to strive for change.

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