10:04am Tuesday 16th March 2010
By Emily Walker, Chief Reporter
Callous teenagers urged a distressed woman to jump from the top of a multistorey car park.
Crowds formed beneath the woman after she climbed over safety railings 150ft up on the top floor of Teville Gate car park in Worthing at about 2pm yesterday.
But as police and firefighters arrived at the scene, a group of half a dozen teenage boys began jeering and chanting jump.
Police negotiators managed to coax the woman back over the railings and condemned the boys insensitive taunts.
One onlooker said: "There was a big group of people. Everyone was looking up to see what was happening then this big group of kids were shouting jump, jump, jump. It was quite sickening.
"There were at least six of them, all boys, probably about 13 or 14-years-old, all the sort of age where they should have been at school."
Suicide charities condemned the youngsters actions as irresponsible and dangerous.
The Samaritans said the thoughtless jibes could have cost the woman her life.
A spokeswoman said: "It is a sad fact that people who feel suicidal sometimes find their feelings can be dismissed or even mocked by people around them.
"When someone expresses thoughts or feelings of suicide these should always be taken seriously. The myth that such things are merely cries for help is misguided and unhelpful and undoubtedly costs lives."
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