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

Preston Crown Court heard the assault was totally unprovoked and the two victims 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 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, 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.

Outside court, Miss Lancaster's mother, Sylvia, 52, who works with young offenders in her job at youth advisory care service Connexions, said society needed to make changes to prevent similar deaths.

She said: "Sophie was a thoughtful, sensitive individual and she would not have wanted her death to have been in vain.

"I hope therefore that, as a society, we can use what has happened to reflect on where we are going and what changes we need to make to prevent others suffering in this way."

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