Two drunken youths who acted like "wild animals" in a brutal attack on a Goth woman because of the way she looked were convicted of murder by a jury yesterday.

Ryan Herbert, 16, and Brendan Harris, 15, savagely kicked Sophie Lancaster to death as she begged them to stop beating her boyfriend.

The 20-year-old's pleas as she cradled Robert Maltby in her arms went unheeded as Harris delivered a flying kick to her head and Herbert volley-kicked her in the face "like a ball in flight" during the assault in a park in Bacup, Lancashire.

Neither of the defendants knew their victims and the only motive was that they simply looked different to them, Preston Crown Court heard.

Ms Lancaster died from head injuries two weeks after the attack in Stubbylee Park on August 11 last year. Her boyfriend, art student Robert Maltby, 21, also a Goth, survived but suffered memory loss and has no recollection of the attack.

Yesterday, Mr Maltby, who did not attend court, said he had lost his "entire world" and wished he had been kicked to death instead so his girlfriend could have been spared.

A jury of nine men and three women took just two hours to unanimously find Harris guilty of murder.

Harris had denied the murder charge but pled guilty to causing grievous bodily harm to Mr Maltby after drinking two litres of cider, a bottle of Stella Artois lager and "quite a lot of" peach schnapps.

Herbert who had also been drinking, admitted murdering Miss Lancaster before he was due to go on trial. He also pled guilty to assaulting her boyfriend.

Three other youths, two aged 17 and one 16, who cannot be named for legal reasons, earlier pled guilty to assaulting Mr Maltby. Charges of murdering Miss Lancaster against them were dropped.

Outside court, Miss Lancaster's mother, Sylvia, 52, said society needed to make changes to prevent similar deaths.

She said: "Sophie was a sensitive individual and she would not have wanted her death to have been in vain."

Judge Russell said he was duty bound to give Harris and Herbert life sentences given their convictions for murder, but that he would set the tariffs after reading pre-sentence reports.

Sentencing was set for April 28, along with the three other youths who were remanded in custody at the start of the trial.