Girl, 12, found hanged after bullying campaign

Published on 13/09/2002 01:00

A 12-YEAR-OLD girl was found hanging in the bedroom of her Edinburgh home after being subjected to a campaign of verbal and physical abuse by school bullies, it was reported last night.

Emma Morrison had been called names and pelted with pencils and rubbers by a gang of girls at Broughton High School, but she had kept her problems to herself, only confiding to her mother a few weeks before she died that she was being bullied.

The girl’s grandparents were quoted last night saying that a group of bullies had subjected her to vicious taunts – such as calling her “pizza face” because of her spots. Grace McGrouther, her grandmother, said: “She’d had a few spots but she was a very attractive girl, even though she could not see it.

“In the end, I think she started to believe them.”

Her husband John added: “They had left her standing alone in the playground, without friends. I have another grandchild at Broughton and she gets the same treatment.

“It seems to be the same group of girls who are behind it, and it’s a problem the school has to address. They must know these lassies are trouble, but they are acting like ostriches, burying their heads in the sand.”

Emma’s body was found in the bedroom of her tower-block home on Wednesday morning by her mother, Liz Morrison. She was declared dead at the scene.

The girl had left a note for her mother and friend – also called Emma. Her mother was reported to be too upset to comment on the suicide.

Emma’s parents divorced five years ago, with her mother winning custody, but the girl was said to have a good relationship with her father and had been described as a contented pupil at Pirniehall Primary School.

Problems began when she moved to Broughton High last year. Her family had planned to move her to Craigroyston High.

Her grandmother said: “A fresh start may have made all the difference.”