Internet-linked suicides fear in Welsh town: police

LONDON: Police are investigating a string of suicides in a Welsh town possibly linked by an Internet death cult spread via an online social network, reports and officials said Wednesday.
The latest death occurred last Thursday, when 17-year-old Natasha Randall was found hanged in her bedroom in Bridgend, south Wales, and followed the suicides of six young men in the local area over the last year.
Detectives are in particular probing links via an online social networking site, reports said.
"What worries me is that when you start entering a virtual world, as these young people are doing on this site, you lose the reality of loss," Madeleine Moon, MP for Bridgend, told British radio.
She voiced concern over reports that the suicides may have been motivated by a desire by the youths to have their names on online memorial pages, or "walls".
The first death was last January, when 18-year-old Dale Crole hanged himself in a disused building. In February, David Dilling, 19, was found hanged near his home, followed by Thomas Davies, a friend of the two dead men.
In August, 17-year-old Zachary Barnes was found hanged, while last month 20-year-old Liam Clarke, a friend of Crole, was found hanged in a Bridgend park. A friend of Clarke, Gareth Morgan, 27, was found hanged this month.
Police say they are carrying out a "thorough investigation" including probing computers used by the dead youngsters.