Mum calls for law change as daughter, 12, takes own life after vile web bullying
NEXT month anti- bullying week will take place in every school in the UK, but sadly it won’t stop more children becoming victims.
Children still get bullied and, in the worst cases, end up taking their own lives.
I spoke to one of the parents whose child was bullying Charley and she used the phrases: “He doesn’t mean it, they are just words” and worst: “Kids will be kids”.
Telling people to die, ganging up on one person, telling someone every single day how ugly they are, how much people wished they were dead. That is not kids being kids.
My other children suffered bullying and Charley watched us, as parents, go to schools for help, watched us contact the police and social services.
She watched them fail to do anything.
We are now calling for Charley’s Law to demand better support services.
When Charley began self- harming in November 2019, a doctor advised her to write a diary. It worked for a while, but she still felt the need to self- harm.
In March I took her to hospital. Social services put her on a waiting list, but warned the wait was potentially three years. On the day Charley died, she had still not received any “professional” support.
We want it to be law that a professional makes contact within one month followed by regular phone and face- to- face in- person contact.
When children need support they need it immediately, not months or years down the line.
THE mother of a 12- year- old girl who took her own life following a campaign of bullying is pleading for a law change to ensure victims receive help before it is too late.
Charley Patterson was taunted daily, in the classroom and online. The problem escalated during lockdown when she received torrents of abuse sent to the laptop she needed to do her schoolwork.
She was also targeted while trying to play her favourite computer game online.
But despite her parents Jay, 35, and Paul, 38, trying to get help for their daughter when she began self- harming in November 2019, Charley had not received any intervention when she hanged herself in her bedroom last Thursday.
Instead they were told she had been put on a three- year waiting list.
Heartbroken Jay says this meant repeated missed opportunities to save their daughter’s life. She now wants legislation called Charley’s Law to be introduced to ensure children receive help they desperately need within one month of problems being highlighted.
Jay, of Cramlington, Northumberland, said: “Charley was a normal happy child whilst at primary school. She loved going to school and being with friends, but that all changed when she started secondary school.
“She was not your typical girly girl, she loved the outdoors and climbing trees.
“I don’t want this to be about blame, but she suffered at the hands of a small group. She was called a ‘ lesbo emo freak’. When we found her body, ‘ freak’ was written on her hand.
“She first tried to take her own life in November last year. When people at school found out they said things to her like, ‘ You are so useless you can’t even kill yourself properly’.
“They also said, ‘ The only way your family will be happy is if you are dead’.
“She was receiving abusive messages on Facebook and WhatsApp. In the end I took her phone off her.
“But I couldn’t take her Chromebook, which is a mini laptop she has to have for school.”
The youth worker added: “We want to stop this from happening to other families. We are campaigning for the law to be changed so help is given within one month.”
Charley’s body was found by her heartbroken mechanic father Paul. Paramedics, air ambulance and even armed police carrying specialist lifesaving equipment tried for an hour to save her life.
The family, which includes Charley’s brothers, Jake, 11, and Callum, 15, have now set up a GoFundMe page to raise money to pay for her funeral.
Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust yesterday failed to respond to a request for comment.
● ● Whatever you’re going through, you can call Samaritans free any time on 116 123 or email jo@ samaritans. org