Schoolgirl Killed Herself After Worrying She Shared A “Racist” Photo

An inquest has ruled that 16-year-old Phoebe Connop killed herself over fears that a photo of her - with darkened skin and a headscarf - would be considered racist.

The West Midlands teenager had been chatting online with an Asian boy, who she described as her boyfriend (despite the fact that she had never met him in person). In a private Instagram chat with friends, she sent the edited photo of herself, remarking that that’s how she’d have to look to gain this boyfriend’s parents’ approval.

One of her friends took the photo out of the private chat, and shared it more widely on social media.

Detective Sergeant Katherine Tomkins told the inquest:

“From speaking to her friends in the weeks following her death, we discovered that the image had circulated further than she wanted it to.

There had been some negative reaction and she confided in her friend, who did take the image down at her request, that she was scared of what the reaction might be from the Asian community in her area.”

Her dad, who discovered his daughter’s body, added:

“She was a lovely girl who would never want to cause offence to anyone.

She had shown me no indication in the weeks leading up to her death that there was anything wrong, let alone anything that would lead her to do this.”

Phoebe had been working with her dad the day that she died, but told him that she felt unwell, so he took her home to rest for the afternoon. When he returned, expecting to pick her up so they could go out for a meal together, he found that she had hung herself.

Phoebe was apparently a talented gymnast, and had planned to continue on to sixth form. She had aspirations of one day becoming a midwife.

Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

H/T The Sun

Image Credits: Daily Mail