Beaten to death for being a goth *WARNING* - Graphic images and description

[Maisiepaisie]

This is just horrible but it doesn't surprise me that mindless chav scum are responsible for this. A young couple were savagely beaten (one of them to death) by a gang of youths, just because they dress differently. I'm glad the thugs got charged with murder so hopefully they'll be behind bars for a long time.
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23466835-details/The%20haunting%20last%20picture%20of%20Sophie%20La ncaster%20who%20was%20beaten%20to%20death%20for%20 being%20a%20Goth/article.do

This particularly upset me because my youngest son likes to follow the emo dress style and he got pushed into a fountain by chavs and his phone was broken. My heart goes out to the parents of the girl who died. I can't imagine what they must be going through :(

[Joeybee]

Yeah I saw this on the news last night, I thought it was really shocking how people could be so cruel and heartless just because those two people looked different to how they did.

[aubergine]

As a species we are capable of such horiffic deeds. I can't begin to empathise with the scum that did this.

[cedarblue]

according to the press, the attackers were drunk with and fuelled by cider.

is it the kids or the parenting or a combo of both?

it's a dreadful, sad, sad story. the young man who survived said he wished his girlfriend had left him to die and saved herself.

some of those details made me feel sick.....



my daughter follows the emo dress style too maisie.

[cobweb]

i read about this today, it beggars belief, humans can be so sordid, i'd like to see a world free of all drugs and drink and a bit more love and morality.

[Hemlock]

The SCUM, that God we leave near Brighton where it is the norm to look different. They were even laughing with their parents after the deed - disgusting doesn't even cover it:mad:

[Penny]

I've been really upset about this, too, and wondered about posting about it. I saw her boyfriend on the news last night and he was devastated at losing her. She was trying to help him when they kicked her so badly that she died two weeks later. I really want something horrible to happen to those bastards. They were 15 and 16 years of age and drunk. (Don't normally swear on forums, but...)

Penny

[Honest_Goodbye]

That's so sad, the picture of her boyfriend at the funeral almost made me cry.

[missbettie]

I don't understand why people feel they have the right to judge anyone...

[Melanie]

This upsets me so much.
What the hell is wrong with people?

:(

[gogs67]

A heart wrenching case to read about!!
As for the attackers, if people think their own lives are cheap, it stands to reason that they will not value the lives of others but if there had been no drink that night then there would have been no murder!

[cobweb]

^ I agree, Gogs, as a reformed hardened drinker I would love to see it, and all recreational drugs, disappear off the face of the Earth.

[Ginger]

My eldest son is 19 (20 in May) and when we lived in Croyden he was regularly beaten up/mugged partly because of how he looked (goth/punk/emo). My heart really goes out to this girl's family and partner. It could have been any of us. Such mindlessness is so hard to comprehend. The woman involved sounds like a real asset to society. Such a sad, unnecessary waste of a life. May her partner eventualy find some sort of peace. I wish him love.

[Aurore]

i saw that, this is incredibly sad. i can only hope the families and poor boyfriend will find some sort of peace, one day.

[mogthecat]

Things like this make me dispair. Something big needs to be done to correct the imbalances and lack of common sense in society which have made this kind of thing commonplace and, in some sectors of society, normal behaviour. We have gone too far towards empathising with people who do things like this - there seem to be no lines that can't be crossed any more.

[xrodolfox]

Wow. This is so distressingly sad. :(

I would think that the "chav" subculture has a large role in legitimizing this violence. I would like to know of its roots, and how it functions, and how to find alternatives to that subculture that could address the endemic violence.

"Broken Homes" and some of the other reasons given in the article are only half reasons. It seems like that whole gang (let alone just the two kids who were most responsible) is part of one of many "reasons".

I wouldn't be surprised if this started happening more often. I think that if a real analysis of the nexus of chav violence and its factors might be able to reason 1) how to address this problem and 2) if the problem is going to grow or die away.

This is one haunting and sad story. If I walked the streets of the UK at night, I'd make sure to cary some brass knuckles and a few combat classes at the least for protection. But that can't be the solution for all.

I am so deeply saddened by this article.

[mjnewbould]

yes - it happened just about half a mile from where I live - in the pennines in Lancashire - not in a big city or anything but a little rural village. I too am very interested in the generation of the subculture that led to this sort of thing. I'm planning to write a piece on this for a journal. The thing I'm really interested in is sudden unexpected infant death - this occurs almost exclusively in the same sort of culture that the perpertrators of this awful murder (and other awful murders) live in. My real interest is how society let this develop and the ethics of it - quite a difficult and complex topic.

[Risker]

if there had been no drink that night then there would have been no murder!

That's a ridiculous claim to make, how can you possibly know that?

[emzy1985]

My two friends were attacked last night by a bunch of chavs. We all dress differently and stick out a mile. They just pulled a knife on them. Luckily my mates got away and called the police.

I think Chav culture is getting out of hand. These kids have nothing worthwhile in their lives and have been failed by the education system, so wonder the streets looking for trouble to make themselves feel important and worth something. I am a metal head and proud. I have gotton into fights with chavs before, luckily before most of them started to carry weapons.

I feel so sorry for their parents, their friends and their families. :(

[aubergine]

.

[emzy1985]

Aubergine that is different to the post I recieved in my email! :)

Anyway my point to it was that I think drink and drugs are a moral panic. They are not alot worse than they have been in my life time at least and if they are it is because people feel worthless, powerless and need to escape/feel better. All of that is due to being over taxed and over worked whether be you or the parents who provide for you. The state is therefore creating and stiring the situation so it can introduce more of a police and nanny state and guess what? We as blind citizens support it as "cracking down on crime!" What a load of bullshit!

[gogs67]

That's a ridiculous claim to make, how can you possibly know that?
Ridiculous, how?

From the article

"Binge-drinking Brendan Harris, 15, and Ryan Herbert, 16, had drunk at least four pints of strong cider and downed shots of schnapps when they stamped on the head of the gap year student in a park in a quiet Lancashire town."

Do you think these scumbags got up in the morning and thought 'tonight i'm gonna kick a woman to death?'.............not at all, i can guarantee all they were thinking about was getting wasted and had no worry whatsoever about the consequences.

Casual drink fuelled violence was just an accepted part of life as i was growing up in Scotland. Fighting / one-sided bullying was just something that happened........but the underlying common factor was drink. i could count on one hand acts of violence i've witnessed when alcohol wasn't involved, and , in every one of these cases there was a personal 'reason' , it was never random.

As a teen, it never occurred to me that there was anything wrong or unusual in people arbitrarily picking fights, it was actually a real eye-opener growing up and seeing other cultures where this did not happen. It was about status- and those with status did that shit............but no one ever did it sober and that exact pattern is there for all to see in this tragic case.

I notice they had previous for this sort of random violence in the same park but nothing had really been done about it, that all adds on to their bravado and feeling of being above any law, mix that with drink every night and sickening tragedies like this will happen again.

[Risker]

And in all the places that alcohol is illegal there are no arbitrary violent crimes... right?

[emzy1985]

I'm sorry but before we were old enough to drink, obtain drink in anyway or even thought about getting drunk this kinda thing was happening. Random attacks by people in the same "drinking situation" as us. The whole thing screams media moral panic. They are trying to get tougher laws put through just as always. OPEN YOUR EYES!

[cobweb]

And in all the places that alcohol is illegal there are no arbitrary violent crimes... right?


i'm sure people still geta hold of alcohol and/or drugs even where it is illegal.
there would be an awful lot less violence, apathy, mental illness, marital problems, domestic abuse, animal abuse, etc, if alcohol just wasn't available atall, imo.
i also agree, tho, emzy, that it's the general feeling of powerlessness and depression in the U.K that drives a lot of this - exactly why people abuse alcohol anyway :(.