Daily Mail
December 12, 2013
A schoolgirl is believed to have hanged herself at a teenage house party after suffering weeks of abuse from jealous bullies.
Sarah Clerkson, 14, was found unconscious in a bedroom early on Sunday and died shortly afterwards in hospital.
Horrified teenagers at the party kicked the door down when they realised something was wrong and tried to revive her with CPR.
Friends and family said Sarah had become ‘emotionally disturbed’ after being picked on by girls. They were said to be envious of her good looks.
Sarah moved schools about six weeks ago after being bullied. She wrote on Facebook about how she was moving after being hit by another girl, but her family said she faced further bullying at her new school.
Grandfather David Chapman, 64, said she appeared to be coping better in recent weeks. ‘We saw her a few weeks ago,’ he said. ‘We went to the Metrocentre [a shopping complex in Gateshead] and she was bubbling, or in her words “buzzing”.
‘She was emotionally disturbed but we thought things were starting to change for her.
‘There’d been a problem with her introduction into a new school. She was bullied for about a week. You know what they’re like when new kids come but it had all blown over.’
The night she died, Sarah and a friend had been invited to a house party held by a teenager in Spennymoor, County Durham.
John Moore, 16, the party host, said yesterday that he invited a few people around to help celebrate one of his friends getting a job.
‘There was alcohol, but no drugs, and everyone was relaxed,’ said John, a student at New College Durham.