Suicide No16 Leaves Town Asking: Why?

By Michael Howie home affairs correspondent

FRESH concerns have been raised over the emergence of so-called “suicide clusters” after two cousins became the latest young people from a Welsh town to take their lives.

Nathaniel Pritchard, 15, a schoolboy, died in hospital yesterday after hanging himself.

A few hours after Nathaniel was found, his cousin Kelly Stephenson, 20, hanged herself from a bathroom shower rail.

South Wales Police said there was no evidence the tragedies were linked to 14 other sudden deaths of young people in the Bridgend area in the past year. All 16 were aged 15 to 27.

Suicide “clusters” have appeared in recent years in other much larger geographical areas, including east Glasgow and parts of the Highlands.

Remoteness, deprivation and media “glorification” of individual deaths have been blamed as possible causes.

Last night, a leading psychologist, Professor Cary Cooper, of Lancaster University, called for a government probe “to get to the bottom of what’s going on in Bridgend”. He said more research was needed into suicide clusters. “They could just be coincidental, but there really should be an investigation to find out once and for all,” he said.

Kelly and Nathaniel lived a few houses from each other in Bridgend and friends said they were very close. Relatives confirmed that Kelly had been told that Nathaniel had tried to take his own life and there was little hope he would pull through.

Both youngsters were members of the internet social networking sites Bebo and Facebook and Kelly was friendly with two previous victims.

Kelly, a keen sportswoman, was on holiday with family in Folkestone, Kent.

She told a relative she was going to the bathroom. When she did not return, they went to investigate and found her dead.

Police confirmed they are investigating after Nathaniel was found hanging in an attic room at the family home.

Kelly knew Gareth Morgan, 27, and Liam Clarke, 20, who hanged themselves last year. A relative of the youngsters said: “Kelly was friends with both boys but whether this had anything to do with what has happened, we just don’t know.

“We just don’t understand what is going on in Bridgend. Both families are devastated.”

The two latest deaths were yesterday met with shock in the town where a special taskforce has been set up to look into the string of tragedies.

South Wales Police and Bridgend coroner Philip Walters do not believe the deaths are linked – and have played down any connection with internet sites.

Kelly had pictures of Nathaniel on her site using his nickname, “Ginge”. A friend on her Bebo site had photographs and tributes to three of the victims: Liam Clarke, Natasha Randall, 17, and Zachary Barnes, 17.

A friend, Rosie – who also appears on Kelly’s Bebo site – said: “It’s going crazy down in Bridgend and it’s not going to stop. No- one can understand what is going on. People are saying it’s got something to do with the internet but I don’t believe that. But then I can’t explain it.”

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