Wales officials fear copycat suicides stemming from earlier incidents

[terry78]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080123/ap_on_re_eu/wales_teen_suicides

 

[Super Kal]

that's messed up

 

[Docker2.0]

Why not post some excerpts from the link for those of us who can't go to yahoo at work.

 

[terry78]

BRIDGEND, Wales - Seven young people around this town in south Wales have died in the last 12 months in what officials fear is a spate of suicides.
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Police said Wednesday they were examining the computer of a 17-year-old girl found hanged in her bedroom last week. The death of Natasha Randall brings to seven the number of apparent suicides within a 10-mile radius of this town of 40,000 in the past year.

In the past year, six men between the ages of 17 and 27 have been found dead in apparent suicides in the 40,000-population town and surrounding area.

Media reports have said Randall belonged to the social networking site Bebo, and left a message on the site paying tribute to one of the dead men, 20-year-old Liam Clarke. He was found hanged in a park in Bridgend last month.

"We don't know if it is some weird cult or copycat suicides or if they have had some bizarre pact to kill themselves," Liam's father, Kevin Clarke, was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail newspaper.

Bridgend Police Superintendent Tim Jones said detectives were examining Randall's computer.

"The investigation will seek to establish the full circumstances surrounding these tragic circumstances (of Randall's death), and clearly communication between friends and associates is an important consideration," Jones said.

Police said they had concluded investigations into the other six cases.

Coroners' inquests — required by British law when someone dies unexpectedly, violently or of unknown causes — have been held into three of the deaths, and found the young men committed suicide. The other inquests are pending.

While media speculation focused on the role of social networking Internet sites in linking the dead youths, coroner Philip Walters said he had found no such connection.

Britain's suicide rate has been declining since the late 1990s, according to the Office for National Statistics, although it varies widely across the country. It is higher in deprived areas than in affluent ones and higher in Scotland than in England or Wales.

Bridgend county, with a population of about 130,000, is home to such major employers as a Ford engine plant, but also includes economically deprived former coal mining towns.

Walters said the suicide rate in south Wales had grown "year on year" over the past three years, prompting authorities to set up a group of police officers, educators and health care workers in response. In Wales in 2002-2004 — the most recent period for which full data is available — there were 22.4 suicides per 100,000 men, compared with 16.7 per 100,000 in England.

The coroner said he found no link between the deaths near Bridgend and Internet social networking sites. "There was no mention of them in any of the inquests that have already taken place," he said.

Police said they were looking into Randall's online contacts as part of their investigation, but said there appeared to be no common link between the deaths. The young people may have known each other, police said, but were not a group of friends.

Rosemary Vaux of Papyrus, a charity committed to the prevention of youth suicide, said she feared media speculation about a rash of suicides would encourage other teens to take their lives.

There was a danger the story could get "too hyped up," she said. "Our charity is concerned that overt reporting could lead to a state of hysteria which could lead to further copycat suicides."
---------------

I won't be making a habit of this. Posting just the link is my middle finger to the man.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

All the stories of people going forward, living their lives, doing stuff...may spark a spate of copy-cat "livers".

Again, why would you want to keep people here who don't want to be here anymore?
Someone who can hear about a stranger killing them self, and then, THEN decide to do it themselves...good riddance.

A huge problem in this world is that it's jam-packed full of idiots and insane people.
Don't fear the copycats. Post stories of suicide every day.


If we pump the hell out of stories about kids who clean their rooms, keeping them very tidy every day, making their beds with hospital corners before going to school...will kids who were dead set on hanging themselves, suddenly have a strong desire to clean their rooms?

 

[amazingfantasy15]

Good riddance. One less dumb person in the world.

 

[turtlefocker]

It's there choice,

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

It's their choice.
Copycat my spelling/grammar.

 

[kingman]

There was pretty much a suicide epidemic where I live last year but as we aren't part of Mainland UK the news never really picked up on it. In one part of the country there was a suicide pact between at least 12, 14-16 year olds, all from the same school. 4 of those had killed themselves before a list was found with agreed dates.

Within a period of 2 months there was at least 15 suicides of people under the age of 18, but again it didn't make the news. Some of those people were known to me through my work and the Bebo "memorials" are more than scary. These teenagers are going to the sites and talking to their dead friends like they did every day before they took their own lives. Some even asking how other dead kids are and what they're going to do on a Friday night. To me that's one of the driving forces behind the suicides.

These people are by no means lonely but the popularity that they receive after death seems to be what they're looking for.

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

These people are by no means lonely but the popularity that they receive after death seems to be what they're looking for.

They think they're going to get to stand by and watch everyone crying for them and mourning their "loss"...like Yoda and Obi Wan Kenobi?
lol

If they're looking for posthumous popularity, they should FAKE their own death.
Rotten, decaying eyeballs don't see very well.

 

[amazingfantasy15]

There was pretty much a suicide epidemic where I live last year but as we aren't part of Mainland UK the news never really picked up on it. In one part of the country there was a suicide pact between at least 12, 14-16 year olds, all from the same school. 4 of those had killed themselves before a list was found with agreed dates.

Within a period of 2 months there was at least 15 suicides of people under the age of 18, but again it didn't make the news. Some of those people were known to me through my work and the Bebo "memorials" are more than scary. These teenagers are going to the sites and talking to their dead friends like they did every day before they took their own lives. Some even asking how other dead kids are and what they're going to do on a Friday night. To me that's one of the driving forces behind the suicides.

These people are by no means lonely but the popularity that they receive after death seems to be what they're looking for.

What morons, great idea kill yourself before you turn 18 before you even start get to enjoy life. Yeah, you'll be a very popular corpse, but it doesn't matter cause you're a corpse!

 

[Captain_BluTac]

Good riddance. One less dumb person in the world.

7 actually and it is the second case of this happening in a small village in the UK in the past 6 months.

 

[Captain_BluTac]

What morons, great idea kill yourself before you turn 18 before you even start get to enjoy life. Yeah, you'll be a very popular corpse, but it doesn't matter cause you're a corpse!

and actually as the highest suicide rates in the world is in Muslim girls aged 16 - 20 so I think it is safe to say not all teen suicide is to do with popularity.

 

[SapphirePrima]

There was pretty much a suicide epidemic where I live last year but as we aren't part of Mainland UK the news never really picked up on it. In one part of the country there was a suicide pact between at least 12, 14-16 year olds, all from the same school. 4 of those had killed themselves before a list was found with agreed dates.

Within a period of 2 months there was at least 15 suicides of people under the age of 18, but again it didn't make the news. Some of those people were known to me through my work and the Bebo "memorials" are more than scary. These teenagers are going to the sites and talking to their dead friends like they did every day before they took their own lives. Some even asking how other dead kids are and what they're going to do on a Friday night. To me that's one of the driving forces behind the suicides.

These people are by no means lonely but the popularity that they receive after death seems to be what they're looking for.

This seems like something you see in a movie or an eposide of Law and Order. That's scary either way you put it.

 

[SapphirePrima]

I won't be making a habit of this. Posting just the link is my middle finger to the man.

I'm not gonna lie I usually ignore threads if they don't post the link or the article.

Quit being lazy:

 

[amazingfantasy15]

and actually as the highest suicide rates in the world is in Muslim girls aged 16 - 20 so I think it is safe to say not all teen suicide is to do with popularity.

That's probably for completely different reasons.

 

[Ice-man]

When your a teen, you hate to be bored and sit around, you need something to do, you can chill with friends, but even than, hes in the same boat as you, with nothing to do...

Plus thats such a depressing looking town, being a teen with nothing to do in a town like that would make anyone want to kill themselves.

and its 100% true, when there is nothing to do, do drugs, drink, party, waste away...

 

[chamber-music]

I saw it on the news an eighth girl tried to hang herself as well. I've been to Wales it ain't that bad.

 

[Captain_BluTac]

I saw it on the news an eighth girl tried to hang herself as well. I've been to Wales it ain't that bad.

I think the sheep are having there revenge!

 

[chamber-music]

I think the sheep are having there revenge!

for all the bumming they been doing to them

 

[amazingfantasy15]

When your a teen, you hate to be bored and sit around, you need something to do, you can chill with friends, but even than, hes in the same boat as you, with nothing to do...

Plus thats such a depressing looking town, being a teen with nothing to do in a town like that would make anyone want to kill themselves.

and its 100% true, when there is nothing to do, do drugs, drink, party, waste away...

There were plenty of times when I was a teenager that I had nothing to do, never thought of killing myself or drinking or using drugs, etc. I really don't think that can be 100% true, these kids are just dumbasses.

 

[The Lizard]

 

[Wilhelm-Scream]

are those the lyrics to a ****ty Emo-punk song?

When your a teen,
you hate to be bored and sit around.
You need something to do.
You can chill with friends,
but even then,
He's in the same boat as you,
...with nothing to do...


I've got a hit song here!

 

[Captain_BluTac]

I honestly don't think we can judge these kids

1. Who knows what was going on with these kids.

2. I remember a case from a few years back hen there was some chemical that was in the water, which can cause severe depression.

 

[chaseter]

Copycat suicide: The dumbest of the dumb.