Social networking sites probed as 'internet suicide cult' rips apart

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Social networking sites probed as 'internet suicide cult' rips apart town when SEVEN young people hang themselves
Last updated at 19:37pm on 23.01.08

Last Thursday:
Natasha Randall, close friend of earlier victim Liam Clarke, hanged herself in her bedroom. Using the tag 'sxiwildchild', she spent hours on her Bebo webpage
A coroner yesterday launched an investigation into the link between the internet and young suicides - as an MP hit out at websites for "romanticising" teenage death.

Phillip Walters, the coroner for the town of Bridgend where seven young people have hanged themselves in a year, fears the teenage sites such as Bebo play a part in the spate of mystery deaths.

Mr Walter said he is "desperately concerned" about the chain of young suicides - and of the connection to teenage social network sites such as Bebo and MySpace.

The coroner said: "I shall be looking at these networking sites myself to see if there is a link between them and the growing number of youngsters committing suicide.

"But in the meantime I want to warn youngsters about the possible dangers these websites can pose.

"I would also like to warn parents to be actively on the alert for signs of their children being influenced by others on these sites.

"We never seem to get to the bottom of these deaths and no-one seems to be able to explain them.

"It is of great concern that some of them seem to be happening for no apparent reason."