The Bridgend suicide incidents are a set of suicides involving young people in Bridgend County Borough in South Wales. Reports speculated that a "cult suicide" was to blame.[1] As of December 29, 2008, there have been twenty-four known deaths since January 2007[2], though police have found no evidence to link the cases together. Of 25 people who killed themselves between January 2007 and February 2009, all but one died from hanging.[3]
The parents of one of the dead accused the media of "glamorising ways of taking one's life to young people".[4] Madeleine Moon, Member of Parliament for Bridgend said that the media were "now part of the problem".[5] Mrs Pritchard, the mother of one of the deceased added: "We have lost our son and the media reporting of this has made it more unbearable".[5]
Many of the suicide victims were teenagers between the ages of 13 to 17.
In the years between 1996 and 2006, an average of three men committed suicide in Bridgend every year. In 2007, the total was at believed to be at least nine.[6]
On 12 January 2010 it was reported that another 2 people had committed suicide in the town.[7]