Posted on 11/21/2006 6:35:33 PM PST by stm
Schoolboy hanged himself using his favourite football team scarf after complaining that he was being persecuted on the bus ride home from lessons.
Paul Moran, 13, would sometimes arrive in tears, his hair and clothes covered with food and drink thrown by other pupils, his mother said yesterday.
On one occasion his beloved Liverpool FC bag was ripped and on another he was even thrown down stairs, Carole Moran added.
Finally, after speaking about suicide to friends, the "sensitive and caring" teenager's mother found him suspended from his metal bunk bed with his Liverpool scarf, facing a poster of his favourite team.
In a further tragedy, a girl from the same school, Jenny Sykes, also 13, hanged herself eight months later after apparently becoming depressed over his death.
Detectives investigating the schoolgirl's death took away her computer after fears that she visited suicide chatrooms before killing herself.
Yesterday an inquest into Paul's death in Blackpool, Lancashire, heard that his mother had complained three times to staff at Lytham St Annes High School that he was being bullied.
Mrs Moran, 45, told the hearing: "One day he came home covered in eggs and flour and crying his eyes out. He could not understand why he was being picked on and kept saying 'Why me, why me?'.
"They even tore his Liverpool football bag which upset him. The school bus stop was right outside our house but often he would get off a few stops earlier to avoid more trouble."
One day he was pushed out of his seat on the top deck and thrown down the stairs, and on another his boots were thrown off the bus, she said.
He started avoiding the upper deck after his earring was ripped out but could still hear bullies shouting abuse at him from upstairs, and on one occasion a girl spat at him and shoved a banana in his face.
She added that his older brother Steven, 23, had offered to speak to the bullies, but Paul feared that would only make things worse.
On November 27 last year, a Sunday, just hours after he had been looking at a Christmas catalogue with his mother, his six-year-old sister, Courtney, found him hanging in his room.
She fetched their mother who dialled 999 but paramedics were unable to save him.
Following his death, police took 23 statements from other children at the school and discovered he had spoken to friends about suicide.
But although they found some evidence of bullying, there was nothing that would justify criminal action.
At yesterday's hearing, school headteacher Phillip Wood said teachers had investigated allegations that Paul had been covered in food but found he was not the only one because there had been a "food fight" on the bus.
He added: "I do not think it was aimed at Paul uniquely. The problem is that what is high spirits to some children can appear to be bullying to others."
The school had a strict anti-bullying policy which had been updated since Paul's death, he added.
Coroner Anne Hind said Paul may have been worried because the prospect of going back to school the following morning was looming.
However she recorded an open verdict, saying: "It could have been an accident, it could have been a cry for help, or it could have been a successful suicide, but Paul left no note and we will never know."
Jenny Sykes, who is not thought to have been close friends with Paul but who was apparently deeply moved by his death, was found hanged at her home on July 12.
Police said they did not find any evidence she had visited suicide chatrooms. An inquest into her death is expected to be heard next year.
"The problem is that what is high spirits to some children can appear to be bullying to others."
HERE'S THE PROBLEM!!!
High spirits????? are they shittin' me?
If he were my son(and I have a 13 yr. old son) I would have pulled him out of school...found each and every kid that picked on him and paid a bigger, older kid to kick their asses and make it known that anyone else bullying would get more of the same. Then I would have went to speak to their parents...door to door...I would have pressed charges against the school and just for fun,went to school daily to give the evil eye to any little shit ballsy enough to step out of line....
naw...i'm not a hot head.
We had them.
You started off with the lower case bullies. If you stood up to them the higher bullies didn't bother with you.
As for being naive, I had a knife pulled on me, one time. I picked up a metal chair and told him to, "C'mon you son of a bitch. I'm gonna feed that knife to you blade first." It didn't hurt that I was known to go schizoid when I was bullied. It was a planned reaction. If you go crazy they think twice.
He blustered and then backed down and went away.
Yeh, you can get hurt bad, physically or mentally, take your pick.
I bet that girl teasing him was the worst part. Though it was all really bad.
I suspect it's been a few years since some of our FRiends have been in school. ;)
It's been almost 20 for me but my senior year was pretty brutal. My parents told me to break up with this guy that they thought was a scuzzbucket. I told him I couldn't date him anymore and the harassment began. It started with threats to have me beaten up and my name scrawled on bathroom stalls. Being 5'1 and 100lbs, I tried very hard to avoid any confrontation. Eventually, it escalated to being followed home from school/work/school events, having my tires slashed, my locker vandalized and getting threatened with a switchblade.
Daddy was right! He was a scumbag! Sadly, 4 of my good friends also died that year (2 suicides & 2 car accidents). Emotionally, I just remember being numb.
It's my understanding that kids today have it much worse. :(
Uh..13. What I would do to be that age again. huge sarc. What a horrible time in life for kids. I can't believe the school did nothing. I mean getting spit on, banana in the face, thrown down the stairs. Even the girl in our class that was picked on was not nearly as cruely treated. This is really a horrible story.
Your are the exception … otherwise; there would be no bullies.
Sounds like what the pre-teen Denver Broncos fans I knew used to do to my LA Raiders jacket.
My point is that I shouldn't be the exception.
Almost every youngster I've known that stood up to bullies ended up better for it.
Now that I'm 60, yes they do ... not because of any growth spurt, just age
Parents, please remember. Your child does not have to go to (public) school. If he comes home crying due to bullies, mean teachers, anything, there ARE other options. I pulled my oldest, who has Asperger's, out of school at the 3rd grade because he was being teased and "used" in games even though he did not know it. He would describe the situation and he thought it was all right. I knew better. He's been homeschooled ever since, with great results. Oh, and the school was a religious private school. Teasing and group taunting goes on everywhere. Yeah, it might "build character" but there are other ways for kids to learn, and they don't NEED that crap in their lives.
"Not all kids are aggressive enough, big enough or talented enough to defeat the bully. Sometimes the bully can beat the crap out of you regardless your efforts."
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yea, i learned that the hard way (my name was skinny vinny, hehehe)but they don't screw with you even if you do get beat up, they know they are in for a fight. it works.
Eloquently put.
Heh...the psycho I had a run in with even tried intimidating my parents! We finally had to call the police. A report was written but the jerk knew what he could get away with.
I agree, even if you get the fat lip, blackeye, it doesn't matter, the bully knows you're gonna fight and that will make him have second thoughts, i guess.
I know.
In this case, though, it seems that this kid might have been gang-beaten.
Poor kid.
(2) An assembly place where evolution rules, and the strong eat the weak.
I stood up to bullies and got my arise kicked. Again, and again until I had a growth spurt (5’2 to over 6 feet).
Hee hee! So true. My little brother was my hero, though. Me, thinking I could be reasonable and talk (er... appease) this guy who came to the house banging on the doors and windows when my parents were out, went out to talk to him where he pulled out a switchblade. My brother (15 at the time) had the sense to show up at the door brandishing my dad's shotgun. He never came to the house afer that.
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