# Sophie Lancaster's killer tries to get prison sentence cut saying he has made good pr



## Arduinna (May 30, 2002)

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A teen killer who battered a young woman to death because she was a Goth has tried to get his jail term cut - because he has made good progress over the last few years.

Ryan Herbert, now 24, was only 15 when he and a gang of friends set upon 21-year-old Robert Maltby in Stubbylee Park in Bacup in August 2007.

He was kicked and beaten unconscious and, when his girlfriend Sophie Lancaster stepped in to help, she was attacked too.

The 20-year-old gap-year student was kicked and stamped on and died from her injuries 12 days later.

Herbert, formerly of Rossendale Place, Bacup, admitted the murder at ******* Crown Court in 2008 and was ultimately sentenced to a minimum of 15-and-a-half years.

His case reached the High Court, where his lawyers claimed the progress he has made in recent years justified a cut in his term.

But after a review of the case, Mr Justice Langstaff said nothing he had done would justify an earlier chance of release.

I'm really happy they did not lower his sentence. I remember this case when it happened.


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