Pupil hanged himself after abuse on site that allowed cyberbullying
A BRIGHT pupil hanged himself after suffering vile abuse on an app which invites users to give one another anonymous feedback, an inquest heard.
George Hessay, 15, had signed up to the Sayat.me app, which allowed trolls to send him cruel messages.
He was subjected to ‘ unconscionable’ abuse by a user calling themselves ‘I Hate People’, who repeatedly urged him to kill himself, the hearing was told.
The teenager was found hanged by his mother Emma at their cottage in Rawcliffe, near Goole, East Yorkshire, early on May 10, 2017.
The abuser is based in the UK but the inquest was told their identity may never be known as the Estonian website keeps user data for only 12 months.
East Riding and Hull coroner Paul Marks said: ‘Sadly this is yet another case where the abuse of social media has led to a tragic outcome.’ George, who attended The Snaith School in Goole, was described as a ‘topflight student’ who had built his own computer. The keen footballer had also previously taken the anti-acne drug isotretinoin, marketed as Roaccutane, which has been linked with suicidal thoughts in rare cases.
But at the time of his death he was no longer taking it.
Detective Constable Stephen Jewell, of Humberside Police, said George had been using Sayat.me from April 27, 2017 to May 3, days before he took his own life. He said the site was set up so businesses and clients could give anonymous feedback to one another. ‘What seems to have happened in time was that children started using the site to ask for feedback from their peers,’ he told the Hull hearing.
The user George was most in contact with was ‘I Hate People’. Mr Jewell said their comments were ‘vile and rather disgusting. They were basically telling George to take his own life.’
Mr Marks said: ‘The content of the messages was unconscionable and something that no normal and civilised human being would send to another person.’
The court was told George left a note which said he had ‘nothing to offer this world’.
Despite the efforts of Mrs Hessay and her husband Mike, who also have a younger daughter, George was declared dead 33 minutes later by paramedics.
Following the tragedy, Sayat. me, which at the time had 30 million users, closed its UK site.
Concluding George died by suicide, Mr Marks said yesterday: ‘These messages materially contributed in an adverse way to George’s state of mind and he may have been sensitised to a depressive effect of isotretinoin.’
After George’s death, Sayat.me said it ‘deplored’ bullying and closed the site ‘to show how seriously we take these matters’.
The NSPCC said: ‘Tech firms need to be forced to get a grip of the abuse on their sites.’
For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123, go to a branch or visit www.samaritans.org
‘Nothing to offer this world’