Bridgend suicide incidents

The Bridgend suicide incidents are a set of suicides involving young people in Bridgend County Borough in South Wales. Reports speculated that a "suicide cult" was to blame.[1] As of December 2008, there have been twenty-four known deaths in or from Bridgend county since January 2007,[2] though police have found no evidence to link the cases together. Of 25 people who killed themselves between January 2007 and February 2009, all but one died from hanging.[3]

The parents of one of the dead accused the media of "glamorising ways of taking one's life to young people".[4] Madeleine Moon, Member of Parliament for Bridgend said that the media were "now part of the problem".[5] The mother of one of the deceased added: "We have lost our son and the media reporting of this has made it more unbearable".[5]

Many of the suicide victims were teenagers between the ages of 13 and 17.

In the years between 1996 and 2006, an average of three men committed suicide in Bridgend every year. In 2007, the total was believed to be at least nine.[6]

On 12 January 2010 it was reported that another two people had committed suicide in the town.[7]

An article in People magazine reported that by February 2012 seventy-nine people had committed suicide by hanging "in the area". Most of the victims are young adults, but the age range is 13 to 41 years of age. In 2010 police asked the media to stop covering the suicides in an attempt to prevent copy-cats. Bridgend is a former market town of around 39,000 people; however, the suicides stretched over the whole county borough of Bridgend, which has a population of over 100,000.[8]

A 2013 documentary[9] and a 2015 drama film[10] starring Hannah Murray (director Jeppe Rønde) have been made about these incidents, both called Bridgend.

References

  1. ↑ Bridgend Suicides: Another Body Found |Sky News|UK News
  2. ↑ Telegraph.co.uk - "Teenage boy from Bridgend found hanged in latest suspected suicide"
  3. ↑ Shoumatoff, Alex (27 February 2009). "The Mystery Suicides of Bridgend County". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  4. ↑ "Parents attack suicides coverage". BBC. 2008-02-19. Retrieved 2008-02-20.
  5. 1 2 Hughes, Mark (20 February 2008). "Bridgend suicides: 'I feel shaken to the core. Why are youngsters around here doing this?'". The Independent. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  6. ↑ Booth, Robert (20 February 2008). "Suspected suicides in Bridgend area reach 17 as schoolgirl found hanged". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-01-13. Retrieved 2010-01-12.
  8. ↑ People Magazine (May 14, 2012) A Tragedy in Wales: A Small Town Mystery
  9. ↑ "Bridgend (2013)". IMDb.
  10. ↑ "Bridgend (2015)". IMDb.
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