England UK

My daughter died because internet sites glorified suicide

They must be banned. Mother launches campaign after hanging tragedy.

By Paul Whitehouse

Yorkshire Post Today, UK: 9 September 2005
http://www.yorkshiretoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1141107
Or, http://tinyurl.com/745f7

A YORKSHIRE woman has launched a campaign to outlaw internet sites
promoting suicide, which she blames for the death of her teenage
daughter earlier this year.

Liz Taylor believes sites that provide details of suicide methods and
offer links to individuals with similar thoughts through chatrooms had
a sinister influence on her daughter Carina Stephenson, who was found
hanging from a tree.

The family did not know the 17-year-old student had been visiting such
websites until after her death, which was recorded as suicide by
Doncaster Coroner Stanley Hooper.

Now her mother has spoken for the first time about the influence she
believes the internet had over her daughter, and announced a campaign
to try to get such sites banned.

She has already had talks with the charity Samaritans, which
acknowledges the harmful influence of such sites, and is now
campaigning for legal changes to help prevent vulnerable people
getting ready access to the material.

Ms Taylor, 38, looked up the sites her daughter had visited to
understand why she had wanted to take her own life - but she was so
appalled by what she saw that she had to turn the computer off to
avoid being sick.

It convinced her to start a campaign, seeking to minimise the risk to
others.

She aims to link up with other campaigning groups to end the problem.

She said she believed Carina would not have died had she not had
access to websites glorifying suicide, and told the Yorkshire Post: "I
am hoping to get something rolling and get groups joining together to
do something - this is the initial stage. I have been in touch with
the Samaritans at the moment."

Controlling internet traffic is fraught with legal and technical
difficulties because many websites are based abroad.

But some of those which Ms Taylor, a teaching assistant, have seen are
based in this country, and South Yorkshire Police say they would
investigate if a complaint was received.

In Japan, where suicides planned over the internet have become an
increasing concern, the law now puts an obligation on service
providers to contact police where internet traffic contains
information about potential suicides.

She supports that change and said: "It would a good thing if that was
to happen here, but there is no need for these sites in the first
place.

"It is the type of information these sites are giving out, methods on
how to commit suicide. It is horrendous.

"Some of the things I have looked into, I have had to turn off and
walk away. I felt physically sick.

"I am just hoping now that anyone out there who is feeling depressed
and is tempted to pour their emotions down a computer will try to
reach out and talk to somebody face to face," she said.

In the months after Carina's death her mother conducted a meticulous
search and was able to establish she had been involved in a dialogue
with three other people over the internet about suicidal intentions.

Although the correspondence in chatrooms is conducted anonymously, she
was able to trace two of the people and confirm they were safe.
However the third remains uncontactable, suggesting they may not have
survived.

Carina had been a well-adjusted and well-liked teenager. She became
withdrawn when the family returned to their home in the village of
Branton, Doncaster, from New South Wales in Australia, after taking
part in the reality TV show Colony, which is to be screened on Sunday.

She was last seen leaving home for a bike ride to visit a friend, but
her body was later found hanging from a tree and police said her death
appeared to have been well planned. As well as two written suicide
notes, she left a third in e-mail form.

The influence of the internet was shown by the case of Gerald Krien,
26, in Oregon, USA, who was arrested for allegedly trying to set up a
joint suicide on St Valentines Day.

He told police he had been in contact with 31 women, but so far only
four have come forward.

Carina's suicide is not the only death to be attributed to the
internet in this country. Teacher Jane Longhurst was strangled by
Graham Coutts, 35, hours after he had surfed the internet for extreme
images of violent pornography.

Her mother Liz, from Reading, Berkshire, launched the Jane Longhurst
Campaign, which has resulted in Government proposals to make it a
criminal offence to download such images from the internet, giving
them the same status in law as child pornography.