15-year-old boy guilty of Goth girl's murder

A 15-year-old boy was today convicted of kicking and stamping to death a young woman in a park because she was dressed as a Goth.

Brendan Harris attacked Sophie Lancaster, 20, as she begged him and four other youths to stop beating her boyfriend, art student Robert Maltby.

Preston Crown Court heard the assault was totally unprovoked and the two victims from Bacup, Lancashire, were singled out because they looked different to their attackers.

Miss Lancaster, a gap year student, died from serious head injuries two weeks after the attack in Stubbylee Park, Bacup, in the early hours of August 11 last year, while Mr Maltby, also a Goth, survived.

A jury of nine men and three women found Harris guilty of murder within hours of retiring.

After the verdict trial judge Anthony Russell QC lifted an order banning identification of Harris and Ryan Herbert, 16, who had pleaded guilty to Miss Lancaster's murder.

Harris had denied the murder charge but pleaded guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Maltby after drinking two litres of cider, a bottle of Stella Artois lager and "quite a lot of" peach schnapps.

Herbert admitted murdering Miss Lancaster before he was also due to go on trial. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting her boyfriend.

Three other males, two aged 17 and one 16, who can still not be named, also pleaded guilty to assaulting Mr Maltby.

The young couple, who had been going out for six months, were walking home from a friend's house to their flat in King Street shortly before midnight when they began chatting with a group of teenagers.

They drifted into the park where the good-natured conversation continued and they even handed out cigarettes to the group.

However, the mood changed suddenly when the five teenage boys savagely turned on Mr Maltby in the skate park area.

Someone was heard to shout "let's bang him" and the Harris started the orgy of violence with a flying kick to his head.

The gang, described in court as "acting like a pack of wild animals", then punched, jumped and stamped on his head until he was unconscious.

Miss Lancaster cried for them to stop as she cradled her boyfriend's head on her lap.

Her plea went unheeded as Herbert delivered a volley kick to her face, with Harris joining in to kick and stamp on her head as she lay on the ground.

When paramedics arrived and found the couple lying side by side covered in blood, they could not tell what sex she was such was the severity of the injuries to her face. The pattern of some footwear was still on her head.

Both fell into comas but Miss Lancaster never regained consciousness and died in hospital 13 days later.

Mr Maltby spent two weeks in hospital, suffered memory loss and has no recollection of the attack, the court heard.

Harris told the jury he started the chain of events when he punched Mr Maltby.

He told police he did not know why he did it and was just "drunk and showing off".

Giving evidence, he said he stood aside as up to four youths waded into Mr Maltby and then watched the attack on Miss Lancaster by Herbert.

However, a number of witnesses, all aged between 14 and 17, some who knew Harris, said though he was "in the thick of it" as he joined in the kicking and stamping.

Harris argued that Herbert was solely responsible and the witnesses to the incident in the badly lit park must have been mistaken.

The jury was also told no traces of blood from Miss Lancaster were found on Harris's shoes or the clothing he wore on the night of the attack.