GIRL(14) BULLIED TO DEATH FOR BEING TOO PRETTY

SARAH CLERKSON

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. He said everyone seemed to be getting on with Sarah but she confided that she had relationship problems and was ‘upset about past experiences’. John said Sarah was sick later in the evening and had to be put to bed in a back bedroom. 

‘Everyone was concerned about her,’ he added. ‘At about 12.15am we went to see how she was. We got no reply and we had to kick the door down.

‘I began to give CPR under instruction over the phone from the ambulance service. Then a police officer arrived and he took over the CPR until the paramedics got there. It was such a shock.’

Sarah was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham but could not be revived. Darlington Police said there were no suspicious circumstances surrounding her death.Yesterday, her grandmother, Linda Chapman, 63, paid tribute to the ‘beautiful’ and ‘bubbly’ schoolgirl. She touched everybody’s heart,’ she said. ‘She was lovely, but she had a lot of emotional issues and family problems with her parents.’ Thousands of people have since joined Facebook groups paying tribute to the teenager. 

Well-wishers speculated that Sarah had been picked on by girls jealous of her good looks, with many calling for the bullies to be dealt with. 

Denise Burnikell wrote: ‘That is why she would get bullied, because she is stunning. Jealousy is a terrible thing.’

Anth Freeman posted: ‘I can’t understand in this day and age how bullies get away with this. Surely in a court of law this should be manslaughter, as this poor girl was driven to take her own life.’