THE mum of murdered Sophie Lancaster believes her daughter would still be alive if Britain had tackled its binge-drinking culture.

Sylvia Lancaster has called on the government to act to stop the rising tide of alcohol-fuelled youth violence which claimed the life of 20-year-old Sophie, who was punched and kicked to death in Stubbylee Park, Bacup last August.

The 52-year-old youth worker made her plea after visiting Italy and Finland to see how they combat binge-drinking.

She said: "Since Sophie died in August 2007, I have had to sit down and think about trying to justify it in my own mind and look at the reasons behind it.

"One of the major reasons, I think, is because of the binge-drinking culture in the UK, particularly amongst our younger end.

"I think what would be useful is for the best of other countries, cultures and their policies to be looked at by Government ministers in Britain.

"We could do with taking the best from those countries and trying to put it in place in some form of policy within Britain."

Brendan Harris, 15, and Ryan Herbert, 16, were jailed for life in April for murdering former Haslingden High School student Sophie with a recommendation that they serve 18 years and 16 years respectively. They have launched an appeal against the length of their sentences..

The pair had been drinking cider, lager and peach schnapps before attacking Sophie's boyfriend, Robert Maltby, and then beating and stamping on her as she cradled him.

She fell into a coma and never regained consciousness. Mr Maltby was also in a coma but survived the attack.

Mrs Lancaster made the trip to Europe for an ITV1 Tonight documentary which is broadcast tonight.

She discovered how huge cultural differences and attitudes to alcohol on the Continent resulted in dramatically lower levels of binge-drinking and violence.

In Italy, 93 per cent of youngsters eat a meal with their parents several times a week, compared with just 64 per cent in Britain, which means mums and dads talk to their children much more than in the UK.

And young Italians are allowed to drink alcohol socially during meals from an early age, yet only five per cent of 15-year-olds have been drunk 20 times or more. In the UK, that figure is 27 per cent.

In Finland, Mrs Lancaster was told that potentially anti-social youngsters are identified by teachers or social workers at the age of six or seven and are referred to schemes such as joining an ice hockey team where they are given help and support from their coaches who are also trained social workers.

Mrs Lancaster, who lives in Bacup, added: "I think the future for Britain is that it will get more violent, young people will grow up not understanding consequences, and a lot more people will have to suffer the grief like I suffered and my daughter suffered, and that is needless.

"When I see another news item about young people being murdered, it is an absolute disgrace and I feel sorry for the families and friends.

"We have got to do something about it and we need to be looking at how to deal with young offenders in a more appropriate manner and one that works.

"We need to be looking at earlier interventions. The reality is that in the long run it will cost the taxpayer less money, so therefore that is where we should be going."

Mrs Lancaster that Sophie might not have been killed if Britain was more like the continent.

She said: "I would imagine that Sophie's life would have been different if I had lived in Finland because with earlier intervention those two young people involved would have had the help that they so obviously needed.

"I would like to think then there wouldn't have been that violence at the ages of 15 because they would have been taught to have dealt with that in a proper, responsible manner.

"Teaching young people to drink responsibly seems to be a major factor in Italian culture, and that leads them to learn to control it rather than feeling that they've got to go out on a Friday and Saturday night and get drunk basically.

"They don't seem to have as much binge-drinking and the binge-drinking doesn't seem to have the same level of violence attached to it."

  • "Fixing Broken Britain: Tonight" airs this evening at 8pm on ITV1.