Inquiry into spate of Bridgend suicides begins
Rosalind Ryan Friday January 25, 2008
Guardian Unlimited
Natasha Randall, the latest of seven suicide victims who were all found hanged. Photograph: Wales News Service
A special taskforce began its inquiry into the recent suicides in Bridgend, south Wales, today, as it emerged that another teenager attempted to hang herself last week.
The taskforce, which includes police, children's services and mental health experts, is examining dozens of apparently copycat suicides by young people in Bridgend since 2004.
The most recent was the death of Natasha Randall, 17, who was found hanged in a bedroom at her home in Blaengarw last Thursday.
The next day, Leah Phillips, one of Randall's 15-year-old schoolfriends, was found hanging at her home in Pontycymmer. The girl's stepfather said he had cut her down and given her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. She survived and is now recovering at home.
It has been reported that a dozen pupils at a secondary school in Bridgend have since asked for counselling after learning of Phillips' suicide attempt.
Randall was the twelfth victim of suicide in the area in the past 13 years. Police investigating her death have denied reports of a suicide pact between her and the six most recent suicide victims, possibly created with the aid of online social networking sites.
Before her death, Randall, a first-year student at Bridgend college, had used networking website Bebo to post messages on memorial pages for victims of suicide. One message, dedicated to Liam Clarke, 20, who was found dead in a Bridgend park on December 27, read: "Tasha Randall says: 'RIP Clarky boy!! gonna miss ya! always remember the gd times! love ya x 'Me too!'."
Superintendent Tim Jones, divisional commander of Bridgend police, said there was no evidence to support a suicide pact. He said: "There is no suggestion that they all knew each other."
But police confirmed that they were examining Randall's computer and said officers would "continue to explore" possible links between local suicide victims.
The taskforce will determine if there are any links between the suicides and ensure that other young people, many of them friends of the victims, have access to counselling and other support services.
Dale Crole, 18, was the first of the seven young people to hang themselves in the area. His body was found in a disused building in Porthcawl, south Wales, last January.
A month later David Dilling, 19, was found hanged near his home in Pyle, Bridgend. Thomas Davies, 20, a friend of Dilling, was found also hanged in February.
Last August Zachary Barnes, 17, of Wildmill, Bridgend, was found hanged. In December Liam Clarke, 20, a friend of Crole, was found hanged in a Bridgend park.
Earlier this month, Gareth Morgan, 27, who knew Clarke, was also found hanged at his home in Bridgend.
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