Young people are being targeted for looking different more than ever before.

That is the view of a woman who contacted the Kentish Express after news broke last week on an attack on a pair of 'emo' teenagers.

The 14 and 15-year-old girl and boy were walking near Folkestone’s harbour when they were approached by a pair of young girls, who asked: “Are you emo?” They were then attacked and beaten.

Goth Tracey Carvill has been attacked in the past and is regularly abused when she goes out in Folkestone. She has had stones thrown at her - most recently by a group of young people in their school uniforms.

She says it is a much bigger problem than people realise and many goths think twice before going out dressed up.

She added: “It’s mostly kids who shout stuff across the street but I’ve had stones thrown at me and a couple of times I’ve been followed down the street just because I’m wearing a black trenchcoat. It’s usually kids who hang around the town.

“The more you dress up, the more you go for it, the more trouble you suffer. I have to think about it now before I go out.

“And it’s not that we are that unusual.

“But the stereotypes don’t help; everyone think emos are little kids who are really depressed and want to kill themselves and people think goths are all witches and vampires when they are actually lovely people. They just express themselves differently.”

Many Goths have rallied to a campaign group called S.O.P.H.I.E – Stamp Out Prejudice and Intolerance Everywhere – named after Sophie Lancaster, a 20-year-old Goth murdered by youhts in Lancashire in 2007 simply because of the way she looked.