Posted By: chopper
Bridgend south Wales - 01/26/08 02:48 PM
This has been in The English papers alot recently it's about a small town i wales where teenagers are commiting suicide police think it may be so they can web pages dedicated to them selves on the internet,heres the article,
very sad,
As detectives look again at the deaths, few local people believe the theory of an internet pact
Detectives investigating the latest in a series of young suicides in the Bridgend area of south Wales are to re-examine 13 deaths - including four cases officially closed.
Police will look for similarities amid concern that some or all of the unexplained deaths could be connected, sources close to the investigation told the Guardian.
In a statement, South Wales police said they would be "reviewing a number of cases of sudden deaths ... We are not reinvestigating the deaths but we are looking at any possible links between them."
Concern over possible links emerged when it was claimed that seven young people who hanged themselves could have known one another and noted each other's death on the internet social networking site Bebo.
Police have consistently said there is no evidence all seven knew each other, or that their contact in the virtual world somehow led to their deaths. But the news that police are looking again at 13 cases will come as a shock to the community.
Until now, officers have said only they are investigating the apparent suicide of the latest, Natasha Randall, 17, found hanged in her bedroom at home in Blaengarw, Bridgend, last week; they would be seeking to establish her relationships with friends, they said, and look through her computer as a matter of "routine".
Last night, however, the Ministry of Justice said that it was considering issuing recommendations covering suicide websites. A spokesman said the recommendations represented an update on the laws, rather than a substantive change.
In the Bridgend cases, there is no evidence that any of the suicide victims had visited websites which encouraged or explained how to commit suicide. But rumours about a possible suicide pact began not long after the funeral of the third of three friends to die in similar circumstances.
Melanie Davies, mother of 20-year-old Thomas Davies, who was found hanged in a park in February 2007, said that a whispering campaign had begun shortly after she had brought back her son's ashes to the terrace house where he was raised in Cornelly, Bridgend. "Ages they've been going on. The rumours died down again - until now," she said this week.
The content of the rumours was chilling: "There's a pact. There's six of them. Pulling straws to decide who goes when."
Then - as now - Davies dismissed as ludicrous the idea that her son could be involved in a pact.
But the hearsay that began in Bridgend's deprived estates almost a year ago reached the headlines this week. And TV networks from across the world descended to try to find the truth behind the deaths.
From behind his desk in Aberdare for his only sit-down interview this week, coroner Philip Walters stared at the list of 13 suspected suicides aged 27 and under in Bridgend, one of three county boroughs for which he has responsibility.
Five are aged between 21 and 27; there are three 20-year-olds, two 19-year-olds, an 18-year-old, and two 17-year-olds. Twelve were male.
All were apparently unexplained and within the space of a few miles. In more than 20 years in the coroner's service, he has never seen anything like it. So far he has held inquests into only four, of whom three were friends, but he believes the reported links between others should be looked into. "We'll get of the bottom of it," he said. "One way or the other."
Few in the former mining town, including families of victims, believe newspaper conjecture about internet suicide pacts. Kevin Clarke, father of Liam Clarke, found hanged last month, said: "I don't think [the deaths] are linked and I don't think the Bebo website is linked to it either. We will never discover what caused it. He was loving his job in a recycling plant and he was looking forward to putting in for his driving test and getting a car."
The town has historically had a high suicide rate and, as a coast town with high unemployment, epidemiologists would expect a high distribution of suicides among young males. Darren Matthews, who runs the local Samaritans group, also discounted internet suicide theories, and said the area fits the profile of a town likely to have higher than average suicides. "You could probably link loads of youngsters through the internet," said Matthews. "Besides, everyone knows each other around here." But, like others, he is confounded by the deaths in a borough of 130,000. "It still doesn't explain: why so many?" he said. "And why now?"
The first of the 13, Dale Crole, 18, hanged himself in a derelict warehouse in nearby Porthcawl. Missing for four months, his body was found in January last year, his baseball hat hung on a nail on the wall.The inquest ruled out speculation in the town concerning third-party involvement.
The second to die, Crole's friend David Dilling, 19, suggested to police that they should search the building where Crole's body was found - the two had spent time in the warehouse before the death.
Dilling was found hanged near his home in the village of Pyle in February. Thomas Davies, who knew both Crole and Dilling, was found hanged in a park soon after. Zachery Barnes, 17, of Wildmill, Bridgend, who was known to other young victims, was found hanged behind a block of flats in August. In December, 20-year-old Liam Clarke, also a friend of Crole, was found hanged in a Bridgend park.
This year 27-year-old Gareth Morgan, who knew Liam, was found hanged at his home in Bridgend - as was last week's victim, Natasha Randall. Two days before she died, she posted a condolence to Clarke on her Bebo page reading: "RIP Clarky boy!! gonna miss ya! always remember the gd times! love ya x." The next day 15-year-old Leah Phillips, another local, was cut down after being found hanging at her home in nearby Pontycymmer. She is recovering at home.
Dr Tegwyn Williams has been developing a Bridgend suicide prevention strategy over the last year with several agencies, to be launched in the coming weeks. He said yesterday he was not sure there was a particular problem in the area. "Suicides happen everywhere in all places and in all age groups." Melanie Davies is not so sure. She believes there are questions to answer. "This connection with the internet - I don't believe that. And the 'pacts' - they're a load of crap, they really are. It's just somebody with an overactive imagination."
She said she was pleased police would take another look at the unexplained apparent suicides. She is desperate for answers, and a week of conjecture has done nothing to explain why Thomas - an outwardly happy, sociable young man - was found hanging from a tree so soon after the death of his two friends.
One mystery continues to haunt his mother more than any other.
Having missed Crole's funeral, Thomas told his mother he was determined to make Dilling's. Before the funeral he prepared his trousers, shoes, shirt and tie, and made sure he knew when the event would take place. "Why would he get clothes ready to go to Dai's funeral," she said yesterday, staring into the middle distance, "if the only funeral he'd be going to was his own?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2247253,00.html
very sad,
As detectives look again at the deaths, few local people believe the theory of an internet pact
Detectives investigating the latest in a series of young suicides in the Bridgend area of south Wales are to re-examine 13 deaths - including four cases officially closed.
Police will look for similarities amid concern that some or all of the unexplained deaths could be connected, sources close to the investigation told the Guardian.
In a statement, South Wales police said they would be "reviewing a number of cases of sudden deaths ... We are not reinvestigating the deaths but we are looking at any possible links between them."
Concern over possible links emerged when it was claimed that seven young people who hanged themselves could have known one another and noted each other's death on the internet social networking site Bebo.
Police have consistently said there is no evidence all seven knew each other, or that their contact in the virtual world somehow led to their deaths. But the news that police are looking again at 13 cases will come as a shock to the community.
Until now, officers have said only they are investigating the apparent suicide of the latest, Natasha Randall, 17, found hanged in her bedroom at home in Blaengarw, Bridgend, last week; they would be seeking to establish her relationships with friends, they said, and look through her computer as a matter of "routine".
Last night, however, the Ministry of Justice said that it was considering issuing recommendations covering suicide websites. A spokesman said the recommendations represented an update on the laws, rather than a substantive change.
In the Bridgend cases, there is no evidence that any of the suicide victims had visited websites which encouraged or explained how to commit suicide. But rumours about a possible suicide pact began not long after the funeral of the third of three friends to die in similar circumstances.
Melanie Davies, mother of 20-year-old Thomas Davies, who was found hanged in a park in February 2007, said that a whispering campaign had begun shortly after she had brought back her son's ashes to the terrace house where he was raised in Cornelly, Bridgend. "Ages they've been going on. The rumours died down again - until now," she said this week.
The content of the rumours was chilling: "There's a pact. There's six of them. Pulling straws to decide who goes when."
Then - as now - Davies dismissed as ludicrous the idea that her son could be involved in a pact.
But the hearsay that began in Bridgend's deprived estates almost a year ago reached the headlines this week. And TV networks from across the world descended to try to find the truth behind the deaths.
From behind his desk in Aberdare for his only sit-down interview this week, coroner Philip Walters stared at the list of 13 suspected suicides aged 27 and under in Bridgend, one of three county boroughs for which he has responsibility.
Five are aged between 21 and 27; there are three 20-year-olds, two 19-year-olds, an 18-year-old, and two 17-year-olds. Twelve were male.
All were apparently unexplained and within the space of a few miles. In more than 20 years in the coroner's service, he has never seen anything like it. So far he has held inquests into only four, of whom three were friends, but he believes the reported links between others should be looked into. "We'll get of the bottom of it," he said. "One way or the other."
Few in the former mining town, including families of victims, believe newspaper conjecture about internet suicide pacts. Kevin Clarke, father of Liam Clarke, found hanged last month, said: "I don't think [the deaths] are linked and I don't think the Bebo website is linked to it either. We will never discover what caused it. He was loving his job in a recycling plant and he was looking forward to putting in for his driving test and getting a car."
The town has historically had a high suicide rate and, as a coast town with high unemployment, epidemiologists would expect a high distribution of suicides among young males. Darren Matthews, who runs the local Samaritans group, also discounted internet suicide theories, and said the area fits the profile of a town likely to have higher than average suicides. "You could probably link loads of youngsters through the internet," said Matthews. "Besides, everyone knows each other around here." But, like others, he is confounded by the deaths in a borough of 130,000. "It still doesn't explain: why so many?" he said. "And why now?"
The first of the 13, Dale Crole, 18, hanged himself in a derelict warehouse in nearby Porthcawl. Missing for four months, his body was found in January last year, his baseball hat hung on a nail on the wall.The inquest ruled out speculation in the town concerning third-party involvement.
The second to die, Crole's friend David Dilling, 19, suggested to police that they should search the building where Crole's body was found - the two had spent time in the warehouse before the death.
Dilling was found hanged near his home in the village of Pyle in February. Thomas Davies, who knew both Crole and Dilling, was found hanged in a park soon after. Zachery Barnes, 17, of Wildmill, Bridgend, who was known to other young victims, was found hanged behind a block of flats in August. In December, 20-year-old Liam Clarke, also a friend of Crole, was found hanged in a Bridgend park.
This year 27-year-old Gareth Morgan, who knew Liam, was found hanged at his home in Bridgend - as was last week's victim, Natasha Randall. Two days before she died, she posted a condolence to Clarke on her Bebo page reading: "RIP Clarky boy!! gonna miss ya! always remember the gd times! love ya x." The next day 15-year-old Leah Phillips, another local, was cut down after being found hanging at her home in nearby Pontycymmer. She is recovering at home.
Dr Tegwyn Williams has been developing a Bridgend suicide prevention strategy over the last year with several agencies, to be launched in the coming weeks. He said yesterday he was not sure there was a particular problem in the area. "Suicides happen everywhere in all places and in all age groups." Melanie Davies is not so sure. She believes there are questions to answer. "This connection with the internet - I don't believe that. And the 'pacts' - they're a load of crap, they really are. It's just somebody with an overactive imagination."
She said she was pleased police would take another look at the unexplained apparent suicides. She is desperate for answers, and a week of conjecture has done nothing to explain why Thomas - an outwardly happy, sociable young man - was found hanging from a tree so soon after the death of his two friends.
One mystery continues to haunt his mother more than any other.
Having missed Crole's funeral, Thomas told his mother he was determined to make Dilling's. Before the funeral he prepared his trousers, shoes, shirt and tie, and made sure he knew when the event would take place. "Why would he get clothes ready to go to Dai's funeral," she said yesterday, staring into the middle distance, "if the only funeral he'd be going to was his own?"
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,,2247253,00.html
