My child killed himself after threats on gaming app - bereaved parent relives suicide trauma in documentary

Joanne’s son had been a bright, popular teenager and a gifted athlete when he took his own life, in August 2016. But it was only when police checked the gaming and social media accounts of 16 year old James Doherty that they learned what had tipped him over the edge.

Watch: Screenagers - The Digital Dilemma now on Shots! TV On Demand.

Now, in a powerful TV documentary, the suicide-bereaved parent shares her son’s story as part of a debate about the harms of children using social media. Joanne Hargreaves-Doherty, from Cleveleys in Lancashire, tells Shots TV presenter, Lucinda Herbert: “I had no idea what he was getting into...You don’t know what conversations they’re having [on social media], or the language they’re using on there. I believe that’s what tipped him over the edge.”

James had recently passed all his GCSE’s and seemed to be enjoying his job as a lifeguard. But, unbeknown to his mother, he owed someone £400 and had received a threatening message on his X-Box account, two days before his death. It was a