THE murder of Sophie Lancaster was one of the most sickening crimes ever to occur in East Lancashire.

Sophie and her boyfriend, Robert Maltby, were subjected to extreme violence, which left them both in a coma, simply because of the clothes they wore.

Her murderers, Ryan Herbert and Brendan Harris, were sentenced to a minimum of 16 years three months and 18 years respectively.

Three other youths – brothers Joseph and Daniel Hulme and Daniel Mallett – were also each jailed for more than four years for attacking Robert.

The decision by this group to appeal against their sentences was widely condemned and caused extra distress to Sophie and Robert’s families. Thankfully, yesterday, the appeal court ruled against sentence cuts for all the defendants apart from Ryan Herbert. It was decided that Herbert had not received enough credit for his guilty plea, so his sentence was reduced by nine months.

Sophie’s mum, Sylvia, said she was pleased that only Herbert had had his sentence reduced.

Despite Herbert’s sentence cut, the judges’ decision is largely to be welcomed.

It was essential that the sentence in this crime sent out a powerful message.

Each of the defendants deserves to remain behind bars for a long time for what they have done.

And they should only be released once the authorities are satisfied they are no longer a danger to anyone.