Murder With My Husband - Bonus Episode - Goth Girl Murder

Episode Date: October 23, 2024

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Hey everyone, Peyton here, dropping in on your Murder With My Husband feed to give you some bonus content, I guess, of sorts. If you guys didn't know, a while back I launched a solo show called BINGED. A little bit into it, I decided that we just needed a refresh, we needed a rebrand, I wanted to take it in a different direction, and so BINGED turned into Into the Dark. It is a true crime show that also dives into all things dark and spooky. We cover conspiracy theories, we cover alien abductions, UFO sightings, mysteries, honestly, all of it.

But of course, we always go back to good old true crime. I decided that if you haven't checked out Into the Dark, I wanted to drop an episode here on Murder with My Husband. And so go ahead, give it a listen. It is a true crime story. I know you're going to love it. And if you end up liking it, go over to into the dark and listen there. We are on YouTube and then also audio as well. The links should be everywhere, but yeah, enjoy and thank you for going into the dark with me today. You're listening to an Ono Media podcast.

Hey everyone, and welcome back to the Into the Dark podcast. I am your host, Peyton Morland, and I am so glad you are here. Now, before I get into it, I did wanna tell you, I have one other podcast called Murder with My Husband. It's a strictly true crime podcast. I do it with my husband. It's honestly our main baby. We started it before this one,

but if for some reason you don't know what Murder With My Husband is, please go listen to it. And then we also have another podcast called Rise In Crime. It is a true crime news podcast. They post twice a week and it's actually my mom who hosts it. So if you want to go check that one out, it's also under our little umbrella. Now, if this is your first time here, welcome to the Into the Dark corner

of our little online world. This is a true crime podcast, but also we dive into Tinfoil Tales, which is our version of like things that don't really make sense. But there's a story that doesn't really make sense about it. We also dive into mysteries, hauntings, ghost stories, alien abductions, honestly, all the good stuff and true crime, which is actually what I'm bringing you today, a true crime episode. But before we get into that, let's jump into my 10 seconds. 10 seconds is a little thing we do over here to start the podcast off on a

lighter foot before we dive into the dark. And today I want to tell you about a little story. Okay, so if you know, I have been playing Fortnite, I have been streaming, which if you wanna check that out, links are literally everywhere. Garrett and I stream true crime stuff on our Murder With My Husband channel, and then I stream like therapy,

gossip, video games over on my personal, and then I stream like therapy, gossip, video games over on my personal channel. But I was streaming yesterday, I was playing Fortnite, and Garrett was actually playing with me. We were playing with a squad. And before we were about to jump into our game, I am sitting at the computer, I have my headphones on, and I'm like two feet away from a wall that's next to me.

Now, this part is a little, okay, it's just real life, okay? headphones on and I'm like two feet away from a wall that's next to me. Now this part is a little okay it's just real life okay but I have a pile on the floor in next to my set where I stream and chats Twitch chat which is all of the people who watch and me have a running joke that it's my depression pile because I can't seem to pick it up but I keep just adding to it. Okay, there's like a blanket, there's an old set of headphones, I have like multiple sweatshirts on this pile on the floor. Okay, if you don't know what a depression pile is, that is what it is.

Okay, I cannot pick it up for some reason but it is there and it just keeps building. Okay, so I'm sitting there, I'm like two feet away from my depression pile that's up against the corner and I'm looking at my screen and as I'm looking at, I'm like two feet away from my depression pile that's up against the corner. And I'm looking at my screen, and as I'm looking at my screen, in the corner of my eye against the wall in the bottom, I see a big black blob moving across the wall, like in the corner, out from under the pile, just like moving across the wall.

And I like, oh, time moves so slow in crisis, okay? I'm like, okay, that is a really big spider, if that's a spider. Like it's a big black, it looks like a shoe, okay? And I'm like, can see it blurring out of the corner of my eye. And I'm like, that's a huge spider if that's a spider. So I'm instantly scared.

I'm instantly like, oh, but then it's like moving really fast. And I'm like, oh, I don't think that's a spider. And so I look over right as it's like scurrying to this couch that I'm currently sitting on. And I'm like, oh, that's a mouse. That's a mouse that has been sitting in my depression pile for who knows how long in my blankets, in my sweatshirt,

and just ran out. I've been sitting here for hours. And it just ran out and ran under this couch. It ran along the wall and under this couch. So I'm on stream, like I'm live streaming. I, now I'm getting scared. I jump up onto my rolly chair, my gaming chair, okay? Totally not safe.

I jump up with both feet. I grab Daisy off the ground. I throw her onto the desk and I go, I mean, I think we have footage of it. Hopefully by this point We might not though. I will post it though on social media So go follow me Peyton Morland if you want to see the footage of me live streaming and seeing this mouse There's gonna be a lot of bleeps because I'm gonna have to bleep out the words I said, but I think I said whole Lee bad word.

Garrett, Garrett, Garrett, Garrett, Garrett, there is a mouse right there. There is a mouse just ran along our wall. And Garrett throws his headphones off and he's like, what, what, what? And everyone in chat is like freaking out. And I'm like, oh my gosh, the mouse just like ran over into that thing. And I'm like standing up, you can't even see me

because I'm standing on my chair. In the process of this, I'm so freaked out that I have like grabbed my mic because I was holding onto it and I have ripped my huge heavy mic that's like clipped onto my, like heavily clipped onto my huge table, ripped it completely off

because I just jumped up so fast. So I'm like holding this heavy mic and I'm like, oh my gosh, the mouse was under, the mouse was under, Garrett's like, okay, I'm gonna go try to get something. He runs upstairs, leaves me alone. And I'm like telling Chad, I'm like, oh my gosh, the mouse was under the mouse was under. Garrett's like, okay, I'm gonna go try to get something. He runs upstairs, leaves me alone. And I'm like telling Chad, I'm like there, it was a freaking mouse.

Like, I don't know if it was a rat. I don't know if it was a mouse. I didn't get that good of a look at it, but like I know that it was big and it was walking and it was running and it was scary. So Chad's like freaking out. And then as I'm like sitting here, I see the mouse scurry out again from under this couch

and run over to our murder with my husband set. Cause all of our sets are in the same room, okay? It's just one big room. Run over to our murder with my husband set. And I scream, I'm like, and Daisy's freaking out. And I'm like, chat, chat, like the mouse is freaking, just ran, it was definitely a mouse.

I like saw its face this time. It was kind of cute. I'm not gonna lie, but I saw its face. Like I saw its little tail. I saw it was like gray. Oh, so Garrett, I scream for Garrett. I'm like, Garrett, it just ran out again. And Garrett comes running downstairs.

I'm like, it's under that couch, it's under that couch. He's like, I don't know how we're gonna get this. He goes looking for it. He moves all the couches. We can't find the freaking mouse. Like I saw it run under there I don't know where it went after that And so I have bad news

But we never caught the mouse Okay, there is a door to the outside in this room. And so we left the door open I don't know if the mouse ran out I don't know if the mouse is still in here currently I don't know if the mouse ran out. I don't know if the mouse is still in here currently. And I know a lot of you are gonna be freaking out about that and low key I am too. And you're like, get a trap.

You guys like, I can't kill a mouse. So little buddy, if you're here and you're listening to this, you need to go outside. You need to go outside. The doors open again, you need to go out. We have no food here. Okay, we're nowhere near the kitchen. So I will keep you guys updated on Mouse Chronicles over on my Twitch stream and honestly probably my Instagram.

So go follow me there. That being said, let's jump into today's episode. Okay. So this case that we're going to talk about today, I actually chose specifically four into the dark because if you don't know me very well or you don't follow me over on Instagram or you haven't followed me for years as others have, you know that as of recently, I have kind of come into myself in a way, okay? I have found, not actually found, I have just kind of accepted my true aesthetic, okay?

I only wear black. I'm an emo girl, okay? I'm just gonna say it. I have been since I was young, there was a point in my life where I was really scared and embarrassed that this is what I was drawn to and what I wanted to be. And a couple years ago, I decided, you know what?

I don't know why I'm scared. I just wanna be who I am. I wanna be who I wanna be. I wanna dress how I wanna dress. Right now now when I wear black. I feel the most me I feel the most comfortable it feels correct on my body and when I put anything else on it doesn't feel right Okay, and that might seem crazy to you, but I only have one life and it's my life So if it doesn't feel right, I'm gonna change. And so I've just accepted that. I wear black. I love chunky shoes.

I love poetry. I love emotions. I feel really heavily. Okay. And yeah, I would say I'm a bit of an emo girl. Okay. And today's case sadly hits home in a way that made me realize more people need to know about this one because I actually found it through Instagram. Someone way that made me realize more people need to know about this one.

Because I actually found it through Instagram. Someone suggested it to me. In this case did not happen here in the US. It actually happened over in the UK. But I think that it's universally relatable. So I want you to think for a second about what your aesthetic is. Like we all sort of have these identities that we portray outwardly through our clothes, the music we like outwardly through our clothes,

the music we like, the movies we like, the people we associate with, even who we are romantically attracted to, right? I think it's a choice that we all make at some point. Some of us even go through phases. Like I said, I know I definitely have. So no matter which direction you choose, it's usually because that's how you feel most comfortable.

Those little buckets we put ourselves in, they sort of become our safe space. What most people never consider though, is that when choosing their own little subculture to identify with, is that it could possibly lead to their murder. So as I mentioned for today's case, we're traveling overseas to the UK

to an area 61 miles north of Liverpool in the Northwestern part of the country close to the ocean. It's a little county called, bear with me because I looked up how to say this and I think it's right, it's called Lancashire. So for the most part, Lancashire County is a pretty rural part of the country with a sprawling countryside and rolling hills speckled with plenty of old historical buildings

and sites, even a castle or two. Okay. We're in the UK. And this is where Sophie Lancaster was born on November 26th, 1986. And it's where she calls home for her entire life. There, Sophie was raised by her parents, Sylvia and John. And while she had a brother named Adam, Sophie was actually the kind of girl who always preferred spending time on her own. Her mother said ever since she was a baby, Sophie was introverted.

She liked her own space, she enjoyed her quiet time, but as she grew older, Sylvia also said that her daughter became quite complex. That was the word she used. Aside from her independence, Sophie was also very strong-willed as she came into her personality. She committed to her decisions,

she didn't put up with anyone else's crap. She was also very intelligent. Someone you'd probably never find out on the tracker field, but instead sitting in the bleachers with their nose in a book. And that book was very likely Harry Potter. It was one of Sophie's absolute favorites ever since she was a kid.

In fact, Sophie's mom said there was one time when she came home with a black eye because she had been reading while walking and walked head first into a lamp post. But when Sophie was around 12 years old, she started to grow into herself more and her mother Sylvia noticed a big change after one particular event.

So Sophie had spent a summer with a friend and after six weeks away, she returned home aesthetically looking different than she had before. So while she was away this summer with her friend, Sophie had dyed her hair and had started to take on a sort of goth appearance if you will. This was something her mother Sylvia didn't fight. She actually seemed pretty supportive of Sophie. In a documentary, she said she thought her daughter looked cool and she was excited that she had kind of started to find her own identity, which go mom.

Her mom said she was getting to express herself in a way that made her feel comfortable and confident. And ultimately the problem wouldn't be Sophie's mom. It would actually be the rest of the town where they lived. It's called Baycup. So while Sophie lived just outside of Baycup during her early years, it was actually where she went to grammar school. It also made up a large population of her high school as well. And while many people would describe Baycup as quaint, maybe even picturesque, it wasn't exactly

the easiest place to grow up. So back in the 90s and early 2000s, at least, when Sophie was there, Bay Cup was a bit rougher than its surrounding areas. There was quite a bit of petty crime, a good amount of closed mindedness, and some pretty unruly behavior, particularly from the kids, the teenagers in the area.

For example, people always complained that the park in Baycup was littered with beer bottles and trash from kids drinking there late into the night. And there was even one instance where Sophie's friend, Stacey, had a pretty aggressive run-in with one of the locals. While she was waiting for takeout somewhere around the town center,

a kid about her age came up and started flicking Stacey in the face. And Stacey told him to leave her and her friends alone, but that's when he actually wound up and punched Stacey in the face and not once, but a few times. So Sophie's friend, Stacey, literally low key got jumped. And after that, Sophie and Stacey stopped hanging around the downtown Bay cup area.

Instead, they looked for places to hang out after school where they felt safer, where they thought no one would bother them, which actually ended up being a little graveyard on the outskirts of town. Two girls from my own heart, okay? Sophie never let this sort of behavior keep her from expressing herself though,

which was exactly what led her to the love of her life. Was another kid from Manchester, just 22 miles away, who fit in well in Sophie's social circle. It was a boy named Robert Malpy. Now, Stacey, this is Sophie's friend, right? She said when Sophie and Rob met, it was clear to her, they were soulmates, they clicked instantly. She said almost as if they had known each other

from some past life, they liked the same music, the same books, they had the same sense of goth style. It was truly like they were destined for one another. And from the moment they met, they were practically inseparable, okay? We are talking young love. And even as high school ended, the couple vowed to stay together and make things work.

So Sophie chose to stay close to home, enrolling in Accrington and Rossendell College to study English literature. Robert also decided to stay local and study for an art degree. So when Sophie was about 18 or 19 years old, she told her mom she wanted to move out and actually get a place with Robert.

Sylvia gave her blessings and the two found a little flat together. And again, this was close to the town of Baycup, which was central for both of them, but also probably what they could afford being students and all. Except come the summer of 2007, Sophie decides to take a gap year. She was going to

leave college and continue her literature degree at a different university the following year. And I'm not totally sure where that was set to be. I know that Sophie was excited, but also a bit nervous about it, mostly because meeting new people was something that intimidated the introverted Sophie. But at least she had the now 21 year old boyfriend, Robert, by her side. And by August of 2007, the two had been together for about three years and things were going very well.

They talked about a future together, about spending the rest of their lives together, only Sophie didn't realize what little time she actually had left. It was August 10th, 2007. And after a long day of work, Robert and Sophie went to their friend Jonathan's house in Bay Cup around 9 p.m. with plans to have a couple drinks

and then call it an early night. It was around 11, 11 40 p.m. when they decided to finally head home and they began the two mile walk back to their place. Now it was a little far, but it also was a nice summer night. So they figured why not. I mean, if you know me, you know, I love walking in the dark, especially on a good summer night.

Plus, I mean, they're together. So on the way home, they stopped off at a gas station to buy some cigarettes for their walk. And that's when they met a couple of teenage girls who struck up a conversation with the graduated in college couple. They chatted Sophie up about her piercings and her hairstyle. She had these really colorful dreadlocks at this time. She had pretty tattoos and the teenagers seemed interested. Then they invited Sophie and

Rob to continue hanging out with them and a few friends over in Stubbly Park. So this is a park that's basically in the middle of Bay Cup. And this park is actually beautiful but is not really the safest place to be after dark. It is one of those late night spots where teenagers go to underage drink, vandalize, fight, but despite this it didn't seem to be something they were particularly concerned about. I'm sure they had passed through that park dozens of times without issue living in the area and figured why would tonight be any different? I mean these high school girls seem nice. So they're

strolling around with their new friends when they're approached by another group of teenagers. And this time it's a group of boys. So we're at about now 1 a.m. on August 11th at this point. And they are all drinking and smoking cigarettes around a skate park in the park. When the mood just changes on a dime, okay, everything's fine, they're all hanging out.

And then all of a sudden, one of the teenage boys comes up and punches Robert in the head for absolutely no reason. So Robert is in such shock that he actually starts laughing. Like it didn't really hurt him that much, but he's like, is in such shock that he actually starts laughing. Like it didn't really hurt him that much, but he's like, okay, I just met these people. This is a little weird. Is this guy just kidding and playing around? But when Robert starts laughing,

it actually makes the teenage boy angrier. And that's when he says something to his friends. And the next thing you know, all of these teenage boys are attacking Robert. So there's five teenage boys just stomping and kicking Robert as Sophie is standing there begging them to stop. She's bending down trying to grab him, but the boys are not having it. So as soon as Sophie jumps in to try to save Robert, the boys turn their wrath on Sophie.

They start kicking her in the head repeatedly to the point where Sophie is so beat up that she's almost unrecognizable. So now thankfully, one of the 14 year old girls that they had originally met and was at the park with sees all of this happening, obviously, and she calls 999. Now, she's hysterical

because she doesn't know these boys either really. And she says that she's never witnessed anything as savage as this attack. She said the boys were literally acting like a pack of wild animals, literally just beating the crap out of Robert and Sophie. And she tells 999, she has no idea what has come over them.

Like it all changed so fast. She tells the operator they need an ambulance at the park, that they're near the skate park, and that these boys just started beating up these two for no reason. Now in the background of the call, you can actually even hear another male screaming at the teenagers to get off them.

So she's literally making this call as the attack is still going on in the background. She then tells the operator that at this point, both Sophie and Robert appear to be breathing, but they are covered in blood and like unrecognizable. And as she's hanging up, the gang of boys kind of stop, they rifle through Robert's wallet and then they just drop it in the bushes

before running away from the scene to a nearby gas station. And apparently there, they are overheard by someone saying in a giddy way, quote, there's two moshers nearly dead up in Bay Cup Park. Do you wanna see them? They're a right mess. So they're bragging. They're bragging about what they've just done. Now meanwhile, first responders are arriving at the park to do what they can

for Sophie and Robert. But they say both of their injuries are so bad that it's hard to even tell what their genders are when they arrive at the scene. Both of them have swollen faces and still have boot marks on the sides of their heads from the attack. Because when I told you kicking and stomping, I mean it. But Sophie and Robert at this point are both still alive. So they are rushed to the hospital. And I know as you're listening to this, you are heartbroken. Like this is so absolutely devastating, uncalled for, evil, disgusting. So the following morning, Sophie's mom, Sylvia,

comes home from the grocery store and inside her house, she sees that someone has slipped a note under the door and it's from the police. They had missed her, but they were urging her to call the station immediately. And as soon as she hears about what has happened and her daughter's condition, Sylvia, along with Sophie's dad and brother, rush down to the hospital where Sophie is now in a coma. Both of her eyes are swollen and black. She has significant injuries to her head. Her forearm looks like she has tried to defend herself and her back has like road burn all over it because it looks like she was being dragged

across the asphalt. There's even chunks of her hair missing and that's just to name a few of her injuries. So Robert is just a short way down the hall also dealing with his injuries. He has a total of 14 injuries. So Robert is just a short way down the hall also dealing with his injuries. He has a total of 14 injuries to his head, neck, arms and legs. Now the initial assessment from the doctors is, Sophie's injuries do not appear to be life-threatening. After a CAT scan of her brain,

there doesn't appear to be any significant fractures or damage. And they essentially tell Sylvia, when you come back tomorrow, we should be able to take her off some of these machines. We think she'll be in better shape. So Sylvia is thinking, okay, that's really hopeful. She even starts thinking about the future while she's spending hours in the waiting rooms. Sylvia decides once Sophie is better, they need to start going around to the schools and teaching them about hate crimes. Like we can't

ever allow something like this to happen again in our town or otherwise. But the next day, when Sylvia comes back to the hospital, things aren't exactly going as the doctors had promised. When they tried to take Sophie off some of the machines to get her body working on her own again, Sophie goes on the decline. A team is brought in to try and stabilize her,

but it becomes apparent that her road to recovery is going to be a lot rockier than anyone expected. Now meanwhile, the police are ramping up their investigation trying to find everyone who was responsible for those vicious attacks. And by the time the weekend is through, they have spoken to about 30 different witnesses who were in or around the area that night, I'm talking at the park or the gas station. And what they find is a lot of people, especially other teenagers, are pretty reluctant to talk. It was clear whoever attacked Sophie and Robert had a strong hold over the other kids in this

community because a lot of them expressed or even hinted at the fact that they were not going to talk because they were worried these people would do the same exact thing to them when they spoke out. Which meant someone knew who these boys were. But I want to take a second here to say it kind of makes sense why some people want to keep their mouths shut because this sort of thing wasn't an anomaly and it wasn't just happening in Baycup, okay? These sort of unprompted, pretty random attacks of violence had been happening all over the area recently

and it was typically by teenage boys. It was almost like seen as something cool to do. For example, on the same night that Sophie and Robert were attacked, another group of teenagers assaulted a 47-year-old man named Gary Newlove outside his home in the town of Warrington. This is about 25 miles away,

and Gary actually died from his injuries. And then a few days after the Bay Cup attack, a 16-year-old in Liverpool shot and killed another 11-year-old boy. And publications like The Sun had noticed this pattern and were following these stories saying much of it had to do with teenagers who had this nothing to lose attitude.

I mean, it's safe to say the ignorance and violent behavior was ramping up among teenage boys in the nation who usually were just partaking in binge drinking and antisocial behavior. And that much of that behavior was not only going unchecked, it was well known by local police forces, only they did very little to make the general public aware of this threat. And I do want to say, obviously we're talking about extremes here, right? Groups of teenage boys who are murdering people by thinking it's fun to jump and beat up people, okay?

But this happens all over our country as well. Death, bullying, groups of teenagers who hurt or murder other teenagers, okay? This is a real thing. So getting back to our story, luckily there were a few people in Bay Cup who knew it was time to make a change and they found the courage to do so.

They went to police with the names of the boys who were seen assaulting Sophie Lancaster and Robert Malby in the park that night. And surprisingly by Sunday, police had five teenagers in custody for this attack. 16 year old Joseph Hume and his brother, 15-year-old Daniel Hume, 17-year-old Daniel Mallet, 16-year-old Ryan Herbert, and 15-year-old Brendan Harris. Now, none of these names are a surprise to police,

with maybe the exception of Daniel Mallet, who was said by most people to be pretty nonviolent and maybe just kind of caught up in the wrong crowd that night. But Ryan Herbert and Brendan Harris were names that police had definitely heard before. Ryan had been reported more than once for bullying younger kids around school,

particularly ones who didn't have siblings that could come to their defense. Meanwhile, Brendan, who lived with his mom and older brother, was frequently seen drinking with them out at the pubs despite being underage. Plus, he was known for getting into fights with other kids at youth clubs. At the same time, Joseph was said to be in a gang at school and his little brother Daniel would pretty much just follow his lead. Now, people are confident that these are their guys because four months before Sophie and Robert's attack, Ryan and Brendan, at least, had been involved in a pretty similar situation. So allegedly, they had chased a younger boy down and when they caught him, they kicked

him, stomped on him until he was in bad shape. And it only ended because the boy's mom actually caught the tail end of the attack and intervened. Now Ryan and Brendan were arrested and placed under the supervision of a youth offending team, which sort of sounds like a community service type thing. So after speaking with all of the suspects, police aren't surprised to learn that Ryan Herbert was actually one that night

to instigate the unprompted attack on Robert. He was the one who initially punched him in the head and then Brendan obviously was quick to follow his lead. So everything unfolds rather quickly, but you're gonna actually lose your mind. Because if all of this isn't bad enough, right? This group or gang of boys, literally brutally beating people.

The parents of each of these boys tried to come together and provide them with false alibis. So Brendan's mom, the same one who has brought him to the pubs was overheard laughing and making jokes about the attack when she was questioned by police. But despite this, all five boys planned to plead not guilty to assault. Now back in the hospital,

Robert was actually getting much better, but Sophie was another story. A few days into her stay, Sophie stopped responding to treatment. And by day four or five, doctors went to Sophie's family with some pretty devastating news. At this point, they were re-scanning

and Sophie had significant brain damage after all. As if this wasn't hard enough for the family, they were then forced to make another decision by the police. It was a very unique circumstance, but they asked if they might be able to examine Sophie's injuries, sort of like a post-mortem, right away. They knew time was of the essence, And if they wanted to get these kids with the highest charges possible, it was important that pathologists examine Sophie

and get as detailed a report on her injuries as possible, even though she was still alive. They claimed if they waited for her to pass and then tried to press for murder charges, many of those injuries could have been healed or helped at the hospital, and it would make the report less comprehensive. So Sophie's family understood the magnitude of this decision

and ultimately agreed to let the post-mortem exam happen while Sophie was still in the coma. And it sounds like this was actually a good idea because they found something pretty critical. So during this exam, they learned that the level of force that was applied to both sides of Sophie's head actually proved there had to have been more than one person delivering fatal blows at one time.

So this was something that would definitely come in handy later in the courtroom, especially when devastatingly, Sophie's case turned from assault to flat out murder. Because 13 days after the attacks, Sylvia and her family made a heartbreaking decision. Knowing that Sophie would have no quality of life, that her organs were already starting to fail, they decided to take her off life support. Sophie died in her mother's arms on August 24th, 2007.

Robert, who had come out of his coma and survived his injuries, was also at his girlfriend's bedside when she passed. Robert was able to attend her funeral a few days later, but his memory from before and during the attacks was still not all the way there. It wasn't actually until Robert was standing over Sophie's coffin seeing the 300 people who had gathered to pay their respects that the gravity of the situation really hit him. The same could also be said for the police who were no longer dealing with just a grievous bodily harm case, but instead a murder. The key would be collecting the concrete evidence needed

to put all of the boys behind bars. So police searched each of the boys' homes, looking for the clothes they wore that night. And while they didn't find much, they did locate some shoes and jeans from Ryan Herbert's house that had remnants of blood. And when run through analysis, it proved to be a match to Sophie's blood.

Now, it was a bit harder to get the other boys though, particularly Brendan Harris, who was said to have carried out much of the assaults alongside Ryan. It was almost like Ryan and Brendan were the ringleaders here. They were like the primary aggressors. The other boys did participate, but not nearly as much as Brendan and Ryan. So the police came up with a plan. They wanted to plant a listening device in the back of a police van and then transport Ryan and Brendan together

to the place where they were to remain in custody. And because these boys are young and dumb and evil, the plan worked like a charm because as believed, the two spoke openly about Quote this is what they said in the back of the police car Kicking Sophie's head in like a football which gave police more than enough evidence to at least convict Ryan and Brendan of the crime While all five were still being charged with murder for Sophie Lancaster and grievous bodily harm for Robert

Maltby. The other three boys were released on bail while Ryan and Brendan remained in custody. Now meanwhile, prosecutors plan to enact something called the law of joint enterprise for the other three boys since there wasn't a ton of evidence against them. Joint enterprise can be used in situations like this when there's a gang attack and police are having a hard time telling who might have delivered that last fatal blow and this is a method that would be put to the test when the trial begins in March of 2008. But prosecutors wouldn't have to work as hard to nail Ryan Herbert. On the first day of the trial he changed his plea to guilty both for the murder and for grievous bodily harm and the other four boys pleaded guilty to grievous bodily harm but

not guilty to murder. So by the time the trial concluded on March 27th 2008 the murder charges were dropped against the Hume brothers and Daniel Mallet but Brendan Harris was also found guilty of murder. So it's back to Brendan and Ryan. So the following month, Brendan was sentenced to 18 years to life while Ryan was given 16 years to life because he pled guilty. Now, during closing remarks at the sentencing hearing, the judge said this, quote,

"'At least wild animals when they hunt in packs have a legitimate reason for doing so. They need food. You have none and your behavior on that night degrades humanity itself. Daniel Mallet was also sentenced to four years and four months while the brothers were sentenced to five years and ten months each for the grievous bodily harm charges. Now remember how I mentioned that Sylvia spent that time in the waiting room, wondering how she could turn her daughter's situation into something positive.

Maybe go school to school, teaching kids about hate crimes and violence. Well, she ends up doing that in Sophie's memory. She creates the Sophie Lancaster Foundation and the S-O-P-H-I-E Fund, which stands for Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred, and Intolerance Everywhere. The goal is to finance school programming

to teach young people tolerance and acceptance no matter what group they belong to. Sophie's case also got the Greater Manchester Police Force to recognize assaults on the goth community, or members of any subculture for that matter is a hate crime. But Robert Mountby who's 38 years old today, the survivor, he actually is almost frustrated with the tie

between the subculture and Sophie's death. And let me explain. Robert made a full recovery after the attack in 2007 and he fell in love again. He continued pursuing his dreams of becoming an artist and an illustrator. And in 2017, he actually spoke publicly about Sophie's murder for the first time.

He mentioned that while he had recovered physically from the attack, the emotional and mental toll is something he still deals with daily. He's battled depression and a case of survivor's guilt. But he also struggled with seeing the media's portrayal of Sophie's story. He told outlets that the quote, goth thing was an oversimplification

of a much broader social issue. He said it feels like if Sophie hadn't been goth, then she wouldn't have been targeted that night. Which wasn't really the way Robert saw it despite how Sophie's family feels, and he experienced it firsthand. He believes the focus should have been on the senseless mob of teenagers who attacked them unprompted.

And not that she wasn't necessarily killed for being goth. She was killed because of this violent epidemic with the gang culture that was spreading around the UK. He said, quote, Why can't we ask what it is about them that made them want to murder someone, not what it is about someone that made them be murdered? So Robert also said that back in 2012, he had received a letter from one of the attackers who was now in prison. He didn't specify if it was Brendan or Ryan, only that it was an apology that felt like it was written to reduce whoever's sentence it was, and that it was the most hollow thing he'd ever read.

But unfortunately, it might have worked in the end, because Ryan Herbert was released from prison in March of 2022 after serving only 12 years of his sentence. The parole board said he'd made quote significant changes to his life which reflected his remorse his insight and increased maturity. And then only a month later Sophie's mother Sylvia passed away. Reports said that she had been struggling with her health for the last few years. Those who knew both Sophie and Sylvia said they were blown away at how a mother could suffer a tragedy like this and still manage to turn it into something that could benefit the

greater good. And that ultimately Sylvia wanted the same thing that her daughter did, just for everyone to be loved and accepted, no matter who they were. And that is the story of the murder of Sophie and the brutal attack on Robert. This case is so just frustrating and unfair and unjust. And it really hit me hard when I was messaged about it and I kind of dove into the details. And I feel honored that I am able to report on this story of Sophie and Robert,

but it's also completely devastating. That was our episode for today and I will see you next week as we dive further into the dark together. Goodbye! you