A bouquet of red roses have been place at her resting place to mark what would have been her 37th birthday today. Her life was brutally ended just three months short of her 21st birthday.
But the legacy created by her mother still strives to erase prejudice and hatred. Sophie Lancaster was murdered just for being herself.
But it triggered wider public concern about the existence of gang violence in the UK, debate, despair, and disbelief. She was walking home through Stubbylee Park in Bacup, Rossendale, on August 11th 2007 at about 1.15am with her boyfriend when they were taunted by a group of youths attacked for how they looked.
Sophie's boyfriend, Robert Maltby, 21, was knocked unconscious and as she tried to protect him she was kicked and stamped on.
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