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Police probe suicide web link over death
Paul Whitehouse POLICE are investigating whether a 13-year-old found hanged in her bedroom had first visited internet websites which promote suicide.
If a link is established it would make Jenny Sykes the youngest known victim in Britain.
The scale of the problem emerged after the death of 17-year-old Doncaster student Carina Stephenson early last summer. Her mother Elizabeth Taylor launched demands for the Government to bar access to such material on the web.
That has been backed by the Yorkshire Post's Dark Side of the Web campaign, which has highlighted a string of other deaths of people who have visited pro-
suicide websites.
They include a man from Barnsley and other teenagers. Among the most recent was Kieran Hudson from Gloucestershire, who was 15 when he died.
Although he left no note and his family believe his death was an accident, it emerged he had been visiting such websites for a year.
Jenny Sykes is the youngest victim yet to be associated with the internet and police have taken her personal computer away for analysis.
She lived in Ring Dyke Way, Lytham, Lancashire, and was a Lytham St Anne's High School pupil. A police spokeswoman said: "We are investigating all lines of inquiry. We are examining her computer.
"We are also speaking to Jenny's friends and family as part of our inquiry. The death is not being treated as suspicious."
Her mother yesterday said: "Jenny was a normal and happy teenager and I am shocked and devastated that we have lost her in such tragic circumstances."
Progress on the issue has been made by the Government which held discussions with internet service providers – companies which provide access to the web.
That resulted in an informal agreement so that when searches were made for suicide websites, users were first presented with site details for "responsible" organisations such as Samaritans.
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Saturday 11 February 2012
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