Sophie Lancaster killer Brendan Harris freed from prison

In April 2008, Brendan Harris, 15, was sentenced to life at Preston Crown Court alongside his co-defendant Ryan Herbert, 16.

Herbert was released on licence in 2022, 15 years after the attack on the Haslingden woman in Bacup.

Harris, now aged 33, was given a minimum term of 17 years and 106 days before his release could be considered, a point he reached in August 2025.

Harris, Herbert and four other teenage boys “savagely and mercilessly attacked” Sophie’s partner Robert Maltby in Stubbylee Park, during the early hours of August 11, 2007.

Gap-year student Sophie rushed to help her boyfriend as he lay unconscious and shouted at his attackers to leave him alone.

Herbert and Harris then turned on her, subjecting her to a “sustained and vicious attack” which involved her head being kicked and stamped on until she too lost consciousness.

Miss Lancaster never regained consciousness and died in hospital 14 days later.

They were attacked because they looked and dressed differently, and Herbert later told people there were “two moshers nearly dead” in the park, according to court hearings.

The sentencing judge determined the attacks were motivated by hostility towards the victims’ appearance as ‘goths’ or ‘moshers’, constituting a hate crime.

The judge described Harris and the group he was with as being akin to a ‘pack of wild animals’.

Now, the parole board has granted Harris release on licence, with conditions including complying with the requirement to reside at a designated address and to be “of good behaviour”.

Additionally, he must submit to an enhanced form of supervision, including drug testing, a specified curfew, a signing-in time, and alcohol monitoring.

Harris told the Parole Board panel that he had been drinking, and he accepted that he threw the first punch at the male victim. He also accepted that he had been regularly violent.

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The parole board’s risk assessment said: “Having considered the index offences, relevant patterns of previous behaviour and the other evidence before it, the panel listed as risk factors those influences which made it more likely that Mr Harris would reoffend.

“At the time of his offending, these risk factors had included his way of life and choice of friends. Mr Harris had misused alcohol and drugs, and he had struggled to manage extreme emotions.

“The panel noted that he acted without thinking about the consequences and demonstrated poor problem-solving skills.

“Evidence was presented at the hearing regarding Mr Harris’ progress and custodial conduct during this sentence. The panel noted that Mr Harris had spent some time on his sentence in a secure Mental Health Hospital and had attacked and injured a nurse.

“He was sentenced as a result of this for an offence on GBH in 2013. He returned to the prison estate in 2014 and went on to complete an accredited programme to address his use of violence.

“At the time of the panel’s review, Mr Harris was engaging with a specialist regime designed to help people recognise and deal with a wide range of problems.

“The panel was told that Mr Harris’ behaviour in the prison had been good. The panel was told that Mr Harris had been motivated to do well and address his risk factors. All the witnesses at the oral hearing supported Mr Harris’ release.”

Sophie’s mother, Sylvia, launched a foundation in her memory to stand against violence and prejudice, to which Judge Anthony Russell QC, who presided over the case, donated £5,000 in his will. Sylvia died in 2022, at the age of 69.

A spokesperson for the Sophie Lancaster Foundation said: “The late Dr Sylvia Lancaster OBE responded to enquiries regarding the perpetrators of Sophie Lancaster’s murder in a personal capacity, and not in her role as chief executive of the Sophie Lancaster Foundation. The foundation itself has no comment to make on the perpetrators.

“At this time, we choose instead to remember all victims of hate crime – those, like Sophie, whose lives were taken, and those whose lives have been irrevocably changed by hatred and violence. For many survivors and families, the impact is lifelong.

“We honour Sophie’s memory by reaffirming our mission to Stamp Out Prejudice, Hatred and Intolerance Everywhere, and by continuing our work to challenge hate in all its forms.”