Gumleaf
October 1st, 2008, 03:15 AM
16:00 AEST Wed Oct 1 2008
A teenager has plunged more than 15m to his death as others below urged him to jump and then took photos of his dead body.
Shaun Dykes, 17, committed suicide from the top level of a shopping centre carpark in the English regional centre of Derby yesterday after police tried to coax him away from the edge, the Daily Mail has reported.
But a group of onlookers below shouted encouragement at him over the three hour ordeal, according to police and witnesses.
"How far can you bounce?" one allegedly shouted as others told him to "Jump" and "Get on with it".
Police slammed the youths' behaviour as "a shocking reflection on society".
"People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump," Superintendent Andy Hough, from Derbyshire police was quoted as saying.
"We really need the public to work with us, not against us. It was a very disappointing situation."
But one witness said while most people were screaming and crying, further disturbing behaviour followed.
"There were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and looked like they were taking pictures with their mobile phones," she was quoted as saying.
Mr Dykes allegedly suffered from depression and had recently been struggling with a relationship break-up.
Ironically, his MySpace page said he wanted to die "quietly" when the time came.
His best friend, Lindsey Reid, said he was joker who "smiled all the time and everyone knew him because he was so popular".
A teenager has plunged more than 15m to his death as others below urged him to jump and then took photos of his dead body.
Shaun Dykes, 17, committed suicide from the top level of a shopping centre carpark in the English regional centre of Derby yesterday after police tried to coax him away from the edge, the Daily Mail has reported.
But a group of onlookers below shouted encouragement at him over the three hour ordeal, according to police and witnesses.
"How far can you bounce?" one allegedly shouted as others told him to "Jump" and "Get on with it".
Police slammed the youths' behaviour as "a shocking reflection on society".
"People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump," Superintendent Andy Hough, from Derbyshire police was quoted as saying.
"We really need the public to work with us, not against us. It was a very disappointing situation."
But one witness said while most people were screaming and crying, further disturbing behaviour followed.
"There were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and looked like they were taking pictures with their mobile phones," she was quoted as saying.
Mr Dykes allegedly suffered from depression and had recently been struggling with a relationship break-up.
Ironically, his MySpace page said he wanted to die "quietly" when the time came.
His best friend, Lindsey Reid, said he was joker who "smiled all the time and everyone knew him because he was so popular".