Sylvia Lancaster Talks S.O.P.H.I.E with Jeremy Vine

BBC Radio 2’s Jeremy Vine, yesterday talked with Sylvia Lancaster about the death of Sophie three years on, The Sophie Lancaster Foundation and its future, in a very moving and powerful interview.

Sylvia spoke courageously about the tragic attack on Sophie and her boyfriend Robert, of why it happened, the events leading up to her death and of her initial struggles with the police to get Sophie’s murder recognised as a hate crime.

Sylvia explained that after Sophie’s death she established the Sophie Lancaster Foundation to create further awareness of subcultures and to Stamp Out Prejudice Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere. She believes that we need to educate, not only young people, but the Police, the Judicial System, and the Crown Prosecution System to understand subcultures and to recognise these kind of attacks as hate crimes.

Since the charity was first founded there has been fantastic progress in getting Sophie’s message heard and Jeremy Vine discussed the award winning film, Dark Angel, which was made in Sophie’s memory. Sylvia praised it as a wonderful tribute and a powerful educational tool, which encouraged great discussion and debate. She also revealed that there will be a new film made, created once again by Creative Director, Mark Williams and that once again, cult make-up brand, Illamasqua would be showing its support. Since the interview was broadcast there have been over 50,000 hits on Dark Angel film.

With this lined up and the launch of the Sophie game, which will be launched into schools around the country in the next couple of weeks, it looks like the message is really starting to get heard. If you missed Jeremy Vine’s interview with Sylvia you can listen to it here

You can see more of our work for S.O.P.H.I.E here.

Posted by Phoebe Findlay.