Schools warned as pupils caught watching 12-year-old girl’s Facebook Live suicide video which has been shared thousands of times
Education chiefs in Sheffield, south Yorks take action after staff at secondary make disturbing discovery
SCHOOLS have been warned after two pupils were caught watching a 12-year-old girl’s Facebook Live suicide video.
Staff at an unnamed secondary in Sheffield, South Yorks immediately contacted local education chiefs after making the disturbing discovery.
In an email to parents the school said it has taken steps to make sure the footage could not be accessed inside their premises.
Katelyn, form Polk County, Georgia, US, broadcast her suicide on social media on December 30 but it was later removed from her page.
It was later posted on other websites, including Facebook.
According to reports, the 20-minute video was filmed in her backyard.
Local cops told how they had contacted several sites and urged them to take it down, but they had refused.
A Sheffield Council spokesman said: “A school contacted our education safeguarding advisers about two of their pupils who had watched the disturbing footage believed to have originated from the US on their mobile phones.
"The school has alerted the police and steps are being taken to remove the video. The safeguarding service immediately sent out a safeguarding alert to every school and college in Sheffield so that they could provide support and advice to pupils and their parents.
"This is a practice we have adopted in Sheffield to enable us to quickly alert schools to any safeguarding risks and concerns.
“Online safety is a priority for us. All our schools and colleges in Sheffield have access to free online safety training that includes sessions on how to deliver both parent and staff workshops.
"We also encourage all parents to stay alert to their children’s activity on the internet, ensure they set the appropriate security settings and to talk openly to their children about the risks and dangers alongside the obvious positive benefits of the internet."
Earlier this month a mother-of-two collapsed and died from heart problems while she was broadcast singing on Facebook Live.
And last month a dinner party broadcast on the software took a horrific turn when it captured a banker's assistant accidentally shooting his friend.
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