***** Here is the latest concerning her passing.
http://www.therossendalefreepress.co.uk/news/s/231/231934_park_attack_victim_loses_fight_for_life.html
Published: 23rd August 2007
Park attack victim loses fight for life
SOPHIE
Lancaster
THE 20-year-old victim of a horrific 'mob attack' in
Bacup has lost her fight for life.
Former Haslingden High School pupil Sophie Lancaster
suffered horrific head and facial injuries when she and
her boyfriend Robert Maltby were assaulted in Stubbylee
Park in the early hours of 11 August, leaving them both
in comas.
Devastated family were told earlier in the week that she
would not recover and went to say their last goodbyes at
her bedside in Hope Hospital, Salford.
And today (Friday) the heartbreaking decision was made
to turn off Sophie's life support machine; she died at
11.30am.
Rob's uncle and close friend of the couple Nigel
Lancashire said: 'We are all just horrified. Both
families are absolutely devastated.
'You don't think it can happen to someone you know;
these things happen to someone else. All her friends
managed to get to see her and everyone who mattered got
to say their goodbyes.'
Robert, known as Rob, was briefly allowed out of
Rochdale Infirmary on Wednesday to pay his girlfriend an
emotional last visit. A former student at Bacup and
Rawtenstall Grammar, he also suffered severe head and
facial injuries, but his condition has improved.
Mr Lancashire described his nephew as very
'disorientated and confused'.
He said Rob, 21, had been asking about Sophie all the
time and when he saw her to say goodbye it was
'heartbreaking'.
The couple, both of Bacup, were allegedly assaulted by a
group of people at the skate park at around 1.20am after
spending the evening at a friend's house
Five youths, three aged 15 and two aged 17, have been
charged with grievous bodily harm with intent in
relation to the assault on Sophie and Robert; the police
and Crown Prosecution Service are now reviewing those
charges.
Detective Inspector Dean Holden, who described the
incident as a 'mob attack' is leading the investigation.
He said: 'It is tragic that this young woman has now
died. Our thoughts are obviously with her family. Anyone
who saw the attack or has any information should contact
the police.'
ChristianGoth.com has sent a sympathy card to the family
of Sophie and a card to Rob, on behalf of the Christian
Goth Community,
but
please feel free to send your own card.
that address is:
To the
Family of Sophie Lancaster
Detective Sergeant Stuart Dixon
FAO Rossendale CID
Rawtenstall Police Station
Lord Street
Lancashire
BB4 7LY
United Kingdom
and for Rob:
Rob
Detective Sergeant Stuart Dixon
FAO Rossendale CID
Rawtenstall Police Station
Lord Street
Lancashire
BB4 7LY
United Kingdom
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An Open Letter to the Goth
Community
I did not know Sophie. I am not a member of the
Goth community. I don't really understand "gothness".
I do, however, understand and exalt in the
preciousness of life and that it is a gift. I
wonder what goes through the minds of people who
look at others and feel it is within their grasp
to steal that gift from others.
There is a young woman who will never have the
opportunity to fully mature into the woman she
could have been. There are parents who have been
denied the privilege of seeing what their child
could fully become. There is a young man whose
girlfriend was taken from him, one he loved but
will never know for sure if she would have been
"the one". He just has a void where she once was
as he heals not only from the beating he himself
suffered but to heal from no longer having
Sophie by his side. There are the people close
to them who watch helplessly unable to do
anything to "just make this go away".
I am saddened and angry ~ not just because
someone seen as different was attacked. Goth, or
whomever, it does not matter to me. What matters
was that the beautiful gift of life was stolen
and done so because of caprice. Children who
know better did not bother to consider the value
of life, but instead out of the vacuum of their
souls attacked and beat to death a young woman
because she was different.
I don't know that my voice will make any
difference in the Goth community as I am not
Goth. I do want to ask something though. In the
name of Sophie do something beautiful. Reach out
to a skater kid. Reach out to someone and do
something kind. Don't let this young woman's
death go for nothing. Let something beautiful
grow from it. I don't know if I am right about
this but from what I understand of Goth is that
it celebrates the dark things and tries to use
them for the betterment. Don't let this death be
lost in darkness.
With Respect,
Sea Dreamer
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