Police focus on hate crime

HATRED of goths, punks and other youth subcultures - symbolised by the notorious killing of 20-year-old student Sophie Lancaster - will be discussed in Oldham this week.

Greater Manchester Police are promoting a week of activities across the force area, highlighting all forms of hate crime — whether based on race, religion, sexuality, disability, appearance or subculture.

One session at Oldham’s Oasis Academy on Thursday night will see police cadets use new training developed since the killing of Rossendale student Sophie Lancaster in 2007. She and her boyfriend Robert Maltby, then aged 21, were both goths and were brutally attacked in Bacup because of their appearance.

The case sparked a debate about widening hate-crime laws to include hatred of subcultures such as goths. Last year, Greater Manchester Police officially began to record these type of offences as hate crimes.

The force has also developed a training scheme, called the The Sophie Game, working with the Sophie Lancaster charity foundation to raise the issues.

Hate Awareness Week events began yesterday at the Link Centre, and other sessions are due at Oldham Sixth Form College tomorrow and Oldham College on Thursday. Police will also have a display in Oldham town centre and are putting information on social media.