Police visit teens on suicide list

POLICE and social workers in the North have visited young people whose names appeared on a list alongside suicide victims.

The unusual step was taken in the Armagh area amid concerns for their welfare, following the self-inflicted deaths of three teenage schoolboys from the area.

It is understood a list of names has been emailed to a number of people and placed on a website.

A Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) spokeswoman said: “Police and social workers in the Armagh area are concerned that material published recently on the internet could make some vulnerable young people feel at risk.

“As a result, a number have been visited with advice on personal and internet safety.”

In June, three teenagers at Craigavon Senior High School, from the Laurelvale and Tangragee areas, Co Armagh, took their own lives within three weeks of each other. A youth in Armagh city died last week.

There were 291 suicides in the North in 2006.

A Derry report has recommended the banning of websites supporting suicide.

A University of Ulster study has urged the establishment of a national database on suicide incidents to discover the reasons why people take their own lives, and to monitor the efficacy of prevention measures.

Researchers found that males accounted for more than 80% of suicides.