Brighton schoolgirl hounded by internet bullies

1:30pm Wednesday 11th April 2012 in News By Bill Gardner

A 12-year-old girl is being hounded by internet bullies who have threatened to kill her.

The victim’s worried mother told The Argus the hate campaign started on social networking site Facebook last year.

She claims every time her daughter Claire (not her real name) posts a picture of herself online, dozens of bullies post comments telling the young girl she is ugly, with many urging the young girl to kill herself.

The victim’s mother said: “It just seems to get worse and worse.

“They were telling her to go and get plastic surgery and that she should put a plastic bag over her head until she was dead.

“They intimidate her and make her feel very alone. The spark in her eyes has gone and all I can see now is sadness.”

Claire’s mother said many of the online bullies had never even met her daughter – and even claimed many are adults.

She said: “Most of the people who abuse her are just random people who join in with the crowd.

“One person told her they were going to break her arms and legs and push her in front of a bus.

“She calls me from school at lunchtime and breaktime, crying her eyes out.

“It’s so upsetting because I’m watching a bright, bubbly, free-spirited little girl turning into a recluse.

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“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to not be able to protect your child from harm.”

While The Argus was interviewing Claire’s mother she received a text from her daughter, who was at a youth group, saying: “Please mummy, come and get me.”

Claire’s mother said her child’s school in Brighton had promised to crack down on the bullies but she felt her claims were “falling on deaf ears”.

She said: “I think schools need to be made aware of the damage cyber-bullying can do and what it does to people so they take it more seriously.”

In February Sussex Police revealed to The Argus that none of its officers is dedicated to pursuing cyber-bullies because they are “notoriously difficult” to track down.

A police spokeswoman also revealed the force has no policy on Facebook abuse despite the site being the most popular social network in the world.

A spokesman for Brighton and Hove City Council said: “Concerns about bullying at any of our schools should be reported to the school in the first instance, whatever form it takes.

“Our schools all take issues around bullying very seriously, and we are confident that they do their best to take effective action on any reports they receive of bullying issues relating to their pupils.”

Anyone concerned about cyber-bullying should call the CyberSmile helpline on 08456887277.

Comments(22)

Ashles says...
1:44pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Not to excuse the awful behaviour of any bullies, but this is one of the reasons you're not supposed to be on Facebook if you are under 13.

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TheAlbion says...
1:46pm Wed 11 Apr 12

What's wrong with people in this world ? i would have thought it would be quite easy to track people down online especially facebook.

But nobody does anything and we wonder why people take the law into their own hands...

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Ashles says...
1:47pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Why doesn't the mother close her Facebook account and set her up on one of the more child frindly social networks? They will have much better controls and still allow her to contact friends and post photos, but in a safer environment.

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CharlotteP says...
1:50pm Wed 11 Apr 12

"She claims every time her daughter Claire (not her real name) posts a picture of herself online, dozens of bullies post comments telling the young girl she is ugly, with many urging the young girl to kill herself." The WHY are you continuing to allow your daughter to post photo's of herself online???? Children of this age should not be putting pictures of themselves online

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fedupwithgreens says...
2:01pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Better still,dont bother with social sites,talk face to face like people used to do

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dhamallamafarmer says...
2:10pm Wed 11 Apr 12

why does a person, too young to have facebook legitimately in the first place have her profile open to public scrutiny? she should set her privacy setting to private (if she's going to continue with social networking at all) so that only her friends, you know, people she actually knows and approves of, can see her photos. Also, hit up the 'report abuse' buttons, block the abusers, all pretty simple really. Personally I have very little time for 'victims' of internet trolling. People you don't know take the opportunity to hide anonymously and abuse you, ignore it, it's their own insecurity they're demonstrating. There's probably nothing wrong with 'Claire' (except she's 12 & still calls her mother Mummy), she just needs to learn that she doesn't need facebook in the first place.

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Goldenwight says...
2:14pm Wed 11 Apr 12

I agree wholeheartedly with the comments above, but a couple of additional points strike me as worthy of note.

Firstly, mother claims that 'many of the online bullies had never even met her daughter – and even claimed many are adults' How exactly does she become aware of this information?

Secondly, we have a claim that 'her child’s school in Brighton had promised to crack down on the bullies but she felt her claims were “falling on deaf ears”. Yet there is no evidence given in the story that any of this is occurring in the school, or is even perpetrated by its pupils (I assume the 'adults' she speaks of don't work there) so what does she expect the school to do? And why is the daughter calling her mother from school- is she accessing social networking sites from there?

I really feel for this girl, and for all (or most) victims of bullying, but this one has (as others have said) a very simple 'out'- stop using facebook.

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tooned_in says...
2:43pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Bullying is part of school life sadly and facebook is just another outlet for it, the fact is this poor girl deserves to attend school school and be educated without the fear she currently faces daily! ive seen friends from school who were bullied and nearly 20yrs later it has still effected them!!!!

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a person says...
4:13pm Wed 11 Apr 12

She probably has a facebook page to talk with her friends.
It does seem as though most people are on face book, as It is a good way to keep in touch with friends and family and to arrange days / nights out. Also to share photos.


It seems from the story she is not being bullied by children in the school, just on the internet on her face book page .

I agree that this girl needs help from someone to show her how to set her
facebook to private, and to only let her friends join her page.
That would solve the problem.

Her age doesn’t really have anything to do with the problem . People wont stop being unkind to her just because she turns 13.
She needs to change her settings.

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Archie Bun says...
4:33pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Sounds like she is making it up, just doesn't sound right.

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UppityPrimate says...
4:35pm Wed 11 Apr 12

pretty much the story behind the story here is 'mother fails to adequately monitor child's behaviour, realises too late the dangers of the internet'
it's sad she's being bullied. it's sadder that she's taking it seriously. it's even sadder that even the mother seems to be unable to figure out the privacy settings tab on facebook. it's a usability issue, first and foremost.
basically if you let your kid online unmonitored, and somethign bad happens, look no further, you are to blame. if you send your kid walking through a rough area late at night wearing a big gold necklace and waving a new iphone about, and they get mugged, you are more to blame than the mugger. at 12 years old, your child is entirely dependant on you. be grateful that nothing worse happened, and apart from a bruised ego, there's no real harm done. learn from it, get some parental control software, and maybe take an interest in your daughter's social interactions? just a thought.

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hubby says...
5:06pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Facebook is for sad people who cannot converse face to face.Get her off it and out doing real things with real people.

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Morpheus says...
5:49pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Facebook started off by making criticism of women. It has just developed into something unpleasant. The sooner it is closed down the better.

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GRANDAD says...
7:05pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Sad tale of a sad society being produced by all those who think they have all the answers to modern day life.

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sdhgfhfuyt says...
7:37pm Wed 11 Apr 12

Morpheus wrote:
Facebook started off by making criticism of women. It has just developed into something unpleasant. The sooner it is closed down the better.
Personally, I would ban all internet access for under 16s, but advertising returns on Facebook don't lie in $$$ terms, so why should anyone give a sh*t about cyber bullying or the e-dumbing down of our education system when advertising revenue rules the roost? Forget going to school, just learn how to sell things people don't need and don't want, American Express will take you on.

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winchesternoir says...
9:34pm Wed 11 Apr 12

The parents should re-assure the daughter that she will survive the bullying - the school will be useless but as per always in the hour of dispair there will be one teacher or a teaching assistant or as in my case when I was 12 and was stabbed and molested by 6 older schoolboys.... a stranger will help. The parents have probably gone to the press as they are desperate and they should write to their MP and cc the letter to ceop ...type it in google or go to police.ceop.uk.
It is worth writing to Cameron and Milliband - it will get passed on and perhaps get help from the Cybersmiles people.

I would also look at responsible anti bullying videos in you tube and if not logged on these would usually be ok for a secondary age pupil.

Years ago a suicidal 14 year old in ...an area not far from Brighton wandered into a Compuserve forum.... she was under age and then asked the moderator for help.... so from USA we got her to leave the politics forum and identified a teacher who assisted.
Only one teacher was needed to help the child so she avoided trying to kill herself. As is nearly always the case the bullies were being encouraged by a parent...
one of my friends is dead now but he and I 'persuaded' him by various er methods to back off.
The beauty of it all is that ...the child never knew who we were but the problem was solved.
Lots of do gooders in Brighton making a good living out of other peoples misery but not actually having any guts.... council top staff can afford private schools and Dorothy Stringer doesnt take Pupils from the poorer areas - it has robust policies and a commited TEAM.
Derek Trimmer at Hove Park School should be replaced.
Hope this helps.
NB For anti gay bullying a charity called All Sorts is run by
one of the best people in the country on that type of bullying
Type it in in google .
You don't have to be 'Gay' or 'LGBT' to be homophobically bullied.

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winchesternoir says...
10:16pm Wed 11 Apr 12

The parents should re-assure the daughter that she will survive the bullying - the school will be useless but as per always in the hour of dispair there will be one teacher or a teaching assistant or as in my case when I was 12 and was stabbed and molested by 6 older schoolboys.... a stranger will help. The parents have probably gone to the press as they are desperate and they should write to their MP and cc the letter to ceop ...type it in google or go to police.ceop.uk.
It is worth writing to Cameron and Milliband - it will get passed on and perhaps get help from the Cybersmiles people.

I would also look at responsible anti bullying videos in you tube and if not logged on these would usually be ok for a secondary age pupil.

Years ago a suicidal 14 year old in ...an area not far from Brighton wandered into a Compuserve forum.... she was under age and then asked the moderator for help.... so from USA we got her to leave the politics forum and identified a teacher who assisted.
Only one teacher was needed to help the child so she avoided trying to kill herself. As is nearly always the case the bullies were being encouraged by a parent...
one of my friends is dead now but he and I 'persuaded' him by various er methods to back off.
The beauty of it all is that ...the child never knew who we were but the problem was solved.
Lots of do gooders in Brighton making a good living out of other peoples misery but not actually having any guts.... council top staff can afford private schools and Dorothy Stringer doesnt take Pupils from the poorer areas - it has robust policies and a commited TEAM
and good management.
Derek Trimmer at Hove Park School should be replaced.
It fails its Ofsted - typical Council school.

Hope this helps.
NB For anti gay bullying a charity called All Sorts is run by
one of the best people in the country on that type of bullying
Type it in in google .
You don't have to be 'Gay' or 'LGBT' to be homophobically bullied.
In addition the Police are ignoring the Protection From Harrassment Act which deals with Stalking and bullying.

You could also try the Community Safety Partnership via 01273 290000 - based in North Street and see BHCC website. But try others first.

The Police choose to act politically and historically Brighton has been a corrupt and inefficient force. The LGBT unit makes few arrests but is very quick to defend Gays but there is no real Child Protection Unit.
At Common Law there is always the Breach of the Peace and the general Public Order legislation.
ASBOS might be applied by the council going to court but the term implies the conduct is not criminal and seeks to reduce real crime stats - abuse is seen as a crime affecting social groups B and C ..so crimes are just behaviour - even if they cause peoples lives to be made miserable. Many police officers - including Polish ones take a more robust view. Good Luck

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WellingtonWoo says...
7:33am Thu 12 Apr 12

I love that most of these comments relate to the evil Facebook and how we should converse face to face and then all pst comments on here! Facebook is not evil some of the people who use it are as are some of the people walking around the streets. Parents should try parenting stop letting your kids have Internet access unsupervised if you are worried, insist you are one of their friends, block the people who are nasty...I know stop finding someone else to blame and be err whats the word...a parent

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D360 says...
9:50am Thu 12 Apr 12

All that needs to happen here is for this girl to block the bullies and to make her account private. Both are simple steps.

To suggest the police should have a "Facebook squad" is laughable and I'm sure the Argus would be the first to critise it if one were set up.

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Joshiman says...
11:59am Thu 12 Apr 12

Bad parenting?

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anonymous coward says...
1:56pm Thu 12 Apr 12

So she's got an account she's too young to have, a mother who doesn't monitor her internet usage, she hasn't used any of the privacy settings and/or "friends" people she doesn't know?

Blaming the victim is almost as vile as bullying but that doesn't mean you should go around with "ABUSE ME" tattooed on your forehead.

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Ashles says...
3:47pm Thu 12 Apr 12

I'm still confused by this bit
"While The Argus was interviewing Claire’s mother she received a text from her daughter, who was at a youth group, saying: “Please mummy, come and get me.”"

... and then no more information.

Is the implication that she is also being bullied at the youth group?
Or is she just texting to be picked up?

Very weird reporting.

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