Family's pain as Chelsea's death details put on net

8:39am Wednesday 19th March 2008

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THE mum of Chelsea Smith, who killed herself last month, says she is sickened that her daughter's death has become a source of entertainment for users of a website about suicides and violent deaths.

Chelsea May, from Stratton, hanged herself in her bedroom on February 5 after writing letters to family and friends.

Her unexpected suicide shook the community and Kingsdown School, where the 16-year-old was widely known.

Devastated friends hastily hacked into Chelsea's Bebo networking page to make sure it wasn't shut down and even posted pictures of their bubbly friend on tribute website Gone Too Soon.

But the touching webpage is a far cry from disturbing suicide site ViewMyDeath.com.

The story of Chelsea's death appeared on the webpage under the death by rope' section before her ashes had even been scattered.

The youngster's photo also appeared on the site's Top Ten Deaths column.

"I am absolutely disgusted," said Chelsea's mum, 44-year-old Trudy.

"This is the most horrific and sickening thing that can be done to a family suffering as we are.

"As if knowing that Chelsea couldn't bear to be in this world isn't bad enough, hearing that her beautiful face is on a site like this has thrown us back into turmoil."

Trudy admitted she had been unsure about the Gone Too Soon page at first, thinking that too was a website glorifying suicide.

She said: "My daughter Kristy told me Chelsea was on the Gone Too soon page and I was livid, my heart was in my mouth - I can't describe it.

"When she explained to me it was an in memoriam' site I calmed down but hearing about this other site has brought about my first fears.

"We originally didn't give any details about how Chelsea died because - to be honest - it's nobody's business but ours.

"The fact remains that a teenage girl with everything to live for has left her family and friends with a life sentence.

"She wasn't looking for glory in her death, she wasn't linked to the Bridgend suicides and I am sick and tired of hearing people guessing why she died."

In her letters to her family and closest friends Chelsea revealed why she was leaving them - a revelation the family have chosen to keep private.

Trudy is now calling on residents to support campaigns to ban suicide websites from the internet.

"There is no glory in causing your family this much misery," she said.

"If Chelsea knew what this was doing to us all she would have thought twice before she left us."

Samaritans spokesperson Kate Redway said the support charity is working with webmasters to make sure its site appears on every page where suicide' or suicide methods' is typed in.

She said: "Many of these gratuitous sites are run from the US so having them closed down would be impossible because American legislation is different to ours.

"The Samaritans is strongly against these kinds of sites and how they can contribute to further deaths and cause further distress to families in mourning."