Regional columnist’s site removes Bridgend tributes

Gonetoosoon, a memorial website run by a regional newspaper columnist, has removed tributes to the 17 young people who have commmitted suicide in Bridgend.

The memorial website, run by Huddersfield Daily Examiner columnist Terry George, had included messages of condolence about some of the 17 people who have died in the Welsh town among its 2,500 memorial pages.

George told the Daily Examiner: “There’s been lots of speculation that some of these suicides could be related to the glamorisation of people having websites in the event of their suicide. We just wanted to err on the side of caution if there was any possibility whatsoever that this could be anything to do with it, that we didn’t want to be condoning it.”

He told the paper: “I don’t feel that we’re glamorising the dead, we’ve never had a situation like this before. If it’s the case that these suicides could be to do with people getting the space on our site or any other social networking site then we’re hoping to take a lead to say, ‘If you commit suicide in the hope you’ll be well known afterwards, then it won’t happen with us, we won’t allow it’. Something has to be done to stop these people taking their own lives.”