Girl found hanged in park was bullied before death, mother claims

<p class="mol-para-with-font">A thirteen-year-old girl was tragically found hanged in a park where she used to build dens with her <a href="brother”>https://www.rt.com/search?q=brother”>brother after viewing social media sites which ‘trivialised’ suicide, her mother has claimed.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Alyssa Morris was found in Brungerley Park in Clitheroe, Lancashire five days short of her 14th birthday after mental health struggles and ‘social anxieties’, an inquest heard.<p class="mol-para-with-font">According to her mother she had been bullied relentlessly at school, including being beaten up as well as being targeted online.<p class="mol-para-with-font">She is now urging parents to beware the potential harms from social media and online bullying, warning that children are ‘consumed by phones and social media’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Life-saving procedures were attempted but Alyssa was pronounced dead later that day, February 12.<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group" style="style"> <div class="mol-img"> <div class="image-wrap"> <img id="i-42c9dd5b6a529e3b" website height="634" width="634" alt="13-year-old Alyssa had reportedly discussed ending her life in the months before her death" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <p class="imageCaption">13-year-old Alyssa had reportedly discussed ending her life in the months before her death<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group" style="style"> <div class="mol-img"> <div class="image-wrap"> <img id="i-ca377e031ea282c3" website height="476" width="634" alt="Alyssa was described as ‘funny, beautiful, very clever’ and planned to work with animals" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <p class="imageCaption">Alyssa was described as ‘funny, beautiful, very clever’ and planned to work with animals<p class="mol-para-with-font">Coroner Richard Taylor told the hearing that a note from Alyssa ‘doesn’t give any explanation’ for her actions, and recorded a conclusion of suicide.<p class="mol-para-with-font">But afterwards her mother, Kathleen Firth said she was convinced that Alyssa had taken her life because of ‘a combination of three things: bullying, social media and Covid’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’They created a perfect storm of <a href="circumstances”>https://www.behance.net/search/projects/?sort=appreciations&time=week&search=circumstances”>circumstances that my little girl just couldn’t overcome,’ she added.<p class="mol-para-with-font">She alleged that bullies beat Alyssa up at a bus stop but that police failed to take a statement, forcing Ms Firth to turn detective and seek CCTV footage herself.<p class="mol-para-with-font">And she hit out at social media platforms, claiming the use of the term ‘unalive’ instead of ‘suicide’ had the effect of ‘trivialising’ death for vulnerable young users.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Described as ‘funny, beautiful, very clever’, Alyssa loved musicals – especially Hamilton – and <a href="penipu”>https://yasarsoft.com/planet-88-3/”>penipu loved drawing, and she had ambitions to work with animals and the RSPCA.<p class="mol-para-with-font">According to her mother, she had no problems at primary school, but struggled after starting secondary school in 2020 – partly due to <a href="Covid”>https://www.bing.com/search?q=Covid%20requirements&form=MSNNWS&mkt=en-us&pq=Covid%20requirements”>Covid requirements which saw pupils taught in ‘bubbles’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">The hearing in Accrington was told that Alyssa began displaying ‘social anxieties’ and had self-harmed by cutting her arms.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Her mother suspected she was autistic, the hearing was told, although it was never formally diagnosed, and Alyssa became ‘upset’ when she sought medical help.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’Alyssa wasn’t comfortable discussing issues in front of people,’ she told the inquest.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’I could see instantly she was withdrawing from the conversation.'<p class="mol-para-with-font">She said she had spoken to Alyssa’s school about her issues, but had been made to feel ‘silly’, and believed they had been made worse by Covid.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Ms Firth had referred her daughter to a GP but there had been no formal diagnosis of autism.<p class="mol-para-with-font">She said Alyssa turned to drawing, using a journal and ‘her behaviour seemed more positive’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Alyssa also started at a new school in <a href="Blackburn”>https://abcnews.go.com/search?searchtext=Blackburn”>Blackburn and seemed ‘very positive’, Ms Firth said.<p class="mol-para-with-font">The inquest heard how Alyssa had discussed taking her own life in online chat with two friends and had also looked into a suicide technique.<p class="mol-para-with-font">But in the days before her death her mother hadn’t noticed ‘anything unusual’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’She had seemed so positive over the previous months,’ Ms Firth said in her statement to the hearing.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’This was such a shock because there was nothing to suggest anything would happen.'<p class="mol-para-with-font">She was found in a secluded area of the park where she walked the family dog and had built dens with her brother.<p class="mol-para-with-font">In a statement after the hearing, Ms Firth said her daughter’s mental health struggles started in Year 7 when ‘bullies and Covid restrictions took my daughter’s soul away and impacted her <a href="mental”>https://www.medcheck-up.com/?s=mental%20health%27″>mental health’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’False rumours circulated around school with misinterpreted videos,’ she said.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’Thanks to phones and social media it didn’t just consume her school life, but it intruded into her home life too.'<p class="mol-para-with-font">Despite moving school, bullying continued there and from previous classmates via social media, she claimed.<p class="mol-para-with-font">During one incident, in July 2022, Alyssa had been badly attacked at a bus stop by other children and it was reported to police, according to Ms Firth.<p class="mol-para-with-font">But she alleged that despite attending a police station, no-one took a statement from her.<p class="mol-para-with-font">By last September the bullying had stopped and Alyssa appeared to be ‘thriving’ after starting Year 9, she added.<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group" style="style"> <div class="mol-img"> <div class="image-wrap"> <img id="i-f066cd034325ffc4" website height="1374" width="634" alt="Bullying reportedly continued after Alyssa moved schools, from old and new classmates" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <p class="imageCaption">Bullying reportedly continued after Alyssa moved schools, from old and new classmates<div class="artSplitter mol-img-group" style="style"> <div class="mol-img"> <div class="image-wrap"> <img id="i-72ac1e4d4803957e" website height="1376" width="634" alt="Alyssa’s mother attributed her daughter’s death to bullying, Covid and social media" class="blkBorder img-share" /> <p class="imageCaption">Alyssa’s mother attributed her daughter’s death to bullying, Covid and social media<p class="mol-para-with-font">Ms Firth accused social media platforms of trivialising suicide, saying she believed videos and content that Alyssa saw before she died ‘failed to make her understand the severity of her actions’.<p class="mol-para-with-font">’Did she really understand the repercussions of what she was doing?’ she asked.<p class="mol-para-with-font">Ms Firth said she was speaking out to raise awareness of the potential harms from social media and online bullying.<p class="mol-para-with-font">The schools Alyssa attended were not given at the hearing, and no-one from Lancashire Police or medical professionals who assessed her gave evidence.<p class="mol-para-with-font">The force said it was looking into Alyssa’s mother’s claims.<p class="mol-para-with-font">For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 116123 or visit samaritans.org