Gardaí seek access to dead teen’s Facebook accounts

Gardaí have moved closer to securing deleted messages from the Facebook accounts of a teenager who may have been cyberbullied in the weeks before he died by suicide, the Dublin coroner has heard.

Darren Hughes-Gibson, 17, was found dead in the Stephenstown Industrial Estate in Balbriggan, north county Dublin, on August 23, 2012. His mother, Elaine Hughes, had reported him missing when he failed to return to their home at New Haven Bay in Balbriggan the previous night.

Ms Hughes believes threatening messages were made on Darren’s Facebook accounts in the weeks before he died, but were subsequently deleted. She has previously told Dublin Coroner’s Court she believes he was being bullied for being mixed race and hard of hearing. Text messages have been submitted to coroner Dr Brian Farrell, which he has described as “highly inappropriate” with a “threatening undertone”.