Friday, July 22, 2011

An insulting message was posted on Social Networking site to a rail's suicide Youngster


Teenager Natasha MacBryde was found dead on a railway line hours after getting an insulting and threatening message on the Formspring social networking website, an inquiry was told.


Worcestershire coroner’s court heard that Natasha MacBryde, a 15-year-old grammar school student, had also utilized the internet to research ways of suicide in accumulate to her death.

Natasha, who had undergone several wounds, was found dead by a train driver 150 yards from her home in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, in the earlier hours of Feb 14 this year.

Talking after the inquiry, Natasha’s parents said they worried that lyrics to one of her beloved songs — Grenade by the American Bruno Mars — may have also confident her to take her own life. The song having the lyrics: “I’d jump in front of a train for ya.”

Det Sgt Shanie Erwin told the investigator that Natasha was recognize to have got a short anonymous message enclosing personal violence via the Formspring networking site on Feb 13.

The message, which was read to the jury by Det Sgt Erwin, put down Natasha for “hiding” behind make-up. It finished: “Begin acting nicer to people or you will lose everybody. Mark my words.”

Det Sgt Erwin said Natasha, who was part of a close-knit group of 10 friends at Worcester’s Royal Grammar School, then sent back a message on Formspring asking: “Who are you?”

It also appeared during the hearing that Natasha, whose parents had divorced, came home from school in tears around two weeks before her death, saying she did not have any friends.

Det Sgt Erwin told the hearing that officials had talked to some of Natasha’s friends in the days following her death and had revealed that she also had a “variance” on Facebook on Feb 13.

After the jury verdict that the schoolgirl had taken her personal life, her parents, Andrew and Jane MacBryde, said they supposed unnamed messages on Formspring had played a crucial role in the events leading up to her death.

The statement, issued by British Transport Police, said: “As a family, we continue to deal daily with the impact that the terrible loss of Tasha has had on all of our lives. She was a bright and beautiful girl whose smile and sparkle lit up not only our world, but also that of her friends and all who knew her.”

The family further said that the inquiry had been “a distressing process”, but had permitted them to feel closer to their daughter.

“We think that the evocative lyrics of one of her favorite songs, Grenade by Bruno Mars, coupled with contact to various websites advising such actions, caused her to make such an immediate extreme and unexpected decision,” they said. “The family believes that the unidentified postings on the Formspring social networking website were a major donor to the incidents on Feb 13, and we consider thinking the inspiration of those who select to send spiteful and malicious messages to their peers. We can only expect that lessons have been learned.” Formspring is a question and answer based social website that gives users to ask questions about other users. It has been charged of heartening cyber-harassment due to the obscurity of entries.

Previous March, Alexis Pilkington, 17, committed suicide in New York after insulting remarks about her were posted on the site in the days leading up to her death.

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