Bebo Suicide Cult

Eight young people from Bridgend, in Wales, died of apparent suicide in the year prior to January, 2008. The most recent, Natasha Randall, age 19, had posted a message on the social networking site, Bebo, in tribute to one of the prior seven young men who had apparently committed suicide, all of whom were also reportedly Bembo users. Investigations are ongoing as to whether the suicides are copycat incidents, and into the role, if any, that Bebo might have played in causing them.

1. Randall's message: "R.I.P Clarky boy!! gonna miss ya! allways remember the gd times! love ya x "
2. The Member of Parliament for Bridgend, Madeleine Moon, claimed that social networking websites could be "romanticising" suicide
3. MP Madeleine Moon called a special debate in the UK House of Commons as to why Bridgend has a high suicide rate

• Google News: Bebo Suicide Cult
• BBC News: Bebo bully victim in suicide bid (February 18, 2008)
  • A teenage cyberbully drove his ex-best friend to attempt suicide by tricking him into falling in love with a fake internet boyfriend, a court has heard.
• This is London: Social networking sites probed...'internet suicide cult' rips apart town (January 23, 2008)
• CNN: Web cult blamed for seven suicides (January 23, 2008)
• BBC News: Web worries after suicide spate (January 23, 2008)
• Guardian Unlimited: How friends paid online tribute to dead youngsters (January 23, 2008)
• Times Online: MP warns against social networking sites after suicides (January 23, 2008)
• The Telegraph: Police fear internet cult inspires teen suicides (January 23, 2008)
• Mirror.co.uk: Parents' anguish as seven pals hang themselves in one year (January 23, 2008)
• The Sun: Bebo mates in 'suicide chain' (January 23, 2008)