Net plague, copycat or simple tragedy?

THE suicide of Natasha Randall, an apparently happy 17-year-old, dragged the south Wales market town of Bridgend reluctantly into the global media spotlight.

Her tragic hanging death on January 17 this year came after six other hanging suicides by young men in the town in the previous year.

Until then, Bridgend (known as Pen y Bont to Welsh speakers) was renowned mainly for its Ford Engine plant and as the place where the beautiful Welsh hymn Calon Lan was written.

But the story attracted even more attention after Bridgend and Glamorgan Valleys Coroner Philip Walters revealed that in fact, 13 people under the age of 27 had committed suicide in the Bridgend area in the previous 12 months. The population of the borough is roughly similar to that of Cork city.

The inaccurate tag “suicide cult” was brandished by several British tabloids. And on websites around the world, the reporting became more and more lurid with Bridgend being dubbed, among other things, “the valley of death”.

The fact that young Natasha’s Bebo profile had featured a “virtual headstone” filled with loving messages added to the growing sensation.

Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon said the website messages, in text speak, such as “RIP Babe” and “RIP chick... luv ya” romanticised suicide instead of emphasising its tragedy.

As January ticked on, news organisations around the world speculated whether this Welsh town, with its old mining communities in the hills in the north and thousands of new build houses clustered around its centre, was suffering a “cyber plague”.

Last week, Bridgend council and health officials staged a press conference aimed at holding back the media tide. But it only fanned the flames.

They promised to roll out a suicide prevention programme aimed at vastly improving the public’s knowledge of suicidal signs by young people.

But the officials, from Bridgend Council and the local Bro Morgannwg Health Authority, in the face of hostile questioning, had to accept they were working with suicide statistics which were two years out of date.

And they confessed they were not routinely told by the police whenever a sudden death was discovered that could clearly be a suicide.

At one point during the press conference, like something out of a movie, a London-based tabloid reporter shouted: “How many more deaths do you want?”

The officials kept their composure and simply emphasised they were committed to preventing more deaths and needed help from all quarters, especially the media.

But even Dr Tegwyn Williams, an experienced and respected forensic psychologist who is leading the strategy, had to admit they simply did not know what had led to the killings and if they were linked.

And he said because of the lack of data, there was even a doubt over whether the spate of suicides was a coincidence or something that was happening in the town of Bridgend.

Then on Monday of this week, Angie Fuller, 18, was found hanged in the home she shared with her fiancé in Nantymoel, North of Bridgend, bringing the death toll to 14.

By the time of the 14th death, concern over the influence of websites had turned to concern over the influence of the widespread media reporting of the deaths.

South Wales Police stressed they did not believe Ms Fuller’s death was in any way linked to the others.

Also, the Welsh force, by coincidence based in Bridgend, made it clear there was no evidence any of the suicides were linked, even though a number of the young men involved knew each other and some were best friends.

The force is currently reviewing the suicides in Bridgend to see if there are any links between them.

Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon, who brought the deaths up in Parliament this week, wants to see media reporting of the deaths controlled.

She told her fellow MPs, “My Bridgend community has been called death town, suicide town, suicide cult town.

“I’ve had researchers [purporting] to be from the BBC 10 o’clock News asking for details of parents and families who’ve died so that they can interview them. This is irresponsible reporting.

“We really need a debate on this matter.”

The British Press Complaints Commission code of practice was tightened in 2006 after appeals from help groups such as the Samaritans.

It now tells editors to “avoid excessive details about the method used” in reporting suicides.

Ms Moon has said she would report any breaches of the journalistic guidelines to the PCC.

She has also been on the warpath as far as the Welsh Assembly is concerned as it has responsibility for health services in Wales.

She said: “There are tried and tested programmes for suicide prevention in places like Scotland but we appear to have nothing.

“This level of deaths is not acceptable anywhere.”

Robin Turner is a journalist with The Western Mail