Mum blames Instagram for death of girl, 11, after she viewed distressing images

An author has blamed Instagram for her daughter’s suicide after she viewed ‘disturbing’ images on the social media platform.

Ursula Keogh, 11, took her own life by jumping 75ft from a bridge into a river in West Yorkshire on January 22 last year.

Her mum Nicola Harlow, a writer and local radio presenter, has now hit out at Instagram and heartbreakingly admitted she wishes she could "turn back time" and "destroy" her daughter’s phone.

She is the second parent to come forward in recent weeks and point the finger at the social network.

Ian Russell claimed last month that his daughter Molly, 14, looked at pictures glorifying self-harm on the online platform before her death.

And Nicola, 53, believes Ursula killed herself after viewing "horrific and distressing" images.

She told the Daily Mail : "I believe that Instagram content was a factor in my daughter’s death. She certainly had been looking at these inappropriate images.

"They were horrific and disturbing. If I could turn back time I would have destroyed her phone. Instagram creates a fantasy life and children are too young to realise that it’s not real life."

An inquest into Ursula’s death heard how she had written a pre-planned suicide note and given it to her friend on the school bus on the way home.

As she got off the bus, one stop early to walk to the bridge, she handed the sealed envelope over to her pal, which said: "Do not open until after 6pm".

Her friend dutifully waited until 6pm to open it where she found the heart wrenching last words of a troubled youngster, who said she had "given up" and "stopped fighting".

By then the emergency services had already recovered her body from the River Calder after a 75ft fall from North Bridge.

No members of the public are known to have witnessed the incident but CCTV footage of the fall was found.

Following her death, detectives from Calderdale CID found Ursula had been writing and looking at suicide information on Instagram and had been messaging someone in Indonesia about her intentions, some three months earlier.

The National Crime Agency tracked the individual down who was cleared of having anything to do with inciting her tragic actions.

Other documents and drawings indicating suicidal ideas were found in her room after her death.

On the day of her death, Ursula went to school as normal, but her mother Nicola Harlow revealed in hindsight that she had been unusually affectionate, turning to say "I love you" and giving her a kiss as she left for the day.

At 3.30pm she texted her mum again, simply saying: "I love you, so so sorry".

When her mum rang her phone 14 minutes later it was picked up by a stranger who had just found it lying on the ground at the top of the bridge, close to a floral memorial to a previous victim.

Ursula, who lived with her mum in Halifax, west Yorkshire had a history of self harm and had struggled after her parents divorced.

It transpired that in five days before her death she refused to remove her school blazer during a cookery lesson.

This led the school to believe she may be self harming.

Her dad, David Keogh, was unaware of the pain she was inflicting on herself, but he was worried about her obsession over social media.

She had told him about a child’s suicide note she had seen online.

Nicola discovered Ursula’s suicide posts on Instagram and confiscated her mobile phone, which caused tension and bad behaviour.

Soon after that she noticed blood on her shirt and discovered self harm marks to Ursula’s left arm.

Nicola added: "Children should not have the means to access the content my daughter did."

Meanwhile, Instagram boss Adam Mosseri has said the social media platform is "not yet where it needs to be" on its handling of content around self-harm and suicide.

The head of the Facebook-owned platform said a comprehensive review had been launched by the firm into its policies around such content, and it would begin adding "sensitivity screens" to images of self-harm as part of wider plans to make posts on the subject harder to find.

"We need to do everything we can to keep the most vulnerable people who use our platform safe. To be very clear, we do not allow posts that promote or encourage suicide or self-harm," he said.

"We rely heavily on our community to report this content, and remove it as soon as it’s found. The bottom line is we do not yet find enough of these images before they’re seen by other people."

Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at [email protected]

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