Girl, 16, killed herself after being bullied on Facebook and Snapchat
A SCHOOLGIRL hanged herself after being bullied on social media, an inquest was told.
Sian Waterhouse, 16, became a regular user of Facebook and Snapchat after being given a new mobile phone for Christmas, but she became upset over messages that led to fallouts with other youngsters.
Following an episode of selfharm, she was given counselling by mental health experts and was advised to ‘block’ former friends from her social media.
But despite appearing to get better, the teenager was said to be in a ‘dark place’ and told one doctor: ‘I feel like my heart is sinking.’
In February, as she prepared for her mock GCSEs, Sian left a handwritten note on the dining table at her home in Morecambe, Lancashire. She was found hanging by her stepfather and died two days later. Her organs were donated.
The hearing in Lancaster was told she had been a ‘bubbly, funloving’ teenager who lived a normal childhood until she was given the phone as a present.
Sian, who attended Morecambe Community High School, was admitted to hospital in 2017 after harming herself.
She was referred to the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service but was discharged just before her 16th birthday in late 2017.
Her stepfather, Phillip Noyland, said: ‘She was a normal child who loved school and was interested in everything. She was always having fun and laughing. She was fine until she got a mobile phone for Christmas. She was always on it.
‘But leading up to February, there were some issues with other children over bullying. On [Sunday] February 18 Sian went to Preston with a friend and got home in the afternoon. I was in bed later that evening when I heard the back door shut and what I thought was Sian coming upstairs.
‘I texted to see if she was OK and had no response. I went down to check and on the dining table there was a note and I saw her.’
Sian’s mother, Ann, said: ‘There were issues with friendships and who she hung around with. There was the problem of being friends and not friends.’ Detective Sergeant Sam Johnson said police had examined Sian’s phone. ‘There was a lot of use of social media such as Snapchat and Facebook,’ he said. ‘But there were no messages to attribute how she was feeling that evening or any messages to suggest she was being driven by the content of those messages. There were no suspicious circumstances.’ Coroner James Newman recorded a narrative conclusion.
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