Megan Gillan 15, swallowed several tablets in an attempt to avoid going to a science exam after fellow pupils posted spiteful messages on the internet about her appearance and clothing.
In the run up to the tragedy Megan said she was so upset at the catty remarks she refused to return to Macclesfield High School.
She was taken out of class to keep her away from her tormenters and studied alone in a 'support room.'
But one witness reported a girl shouting in Megan's face and another friend said the teenager burst in tears when she logged onto the Bebo site to find herself given a cruel nickname.
Megan was found dead in bed by her parents, Mark and Margaret, when she failed to come down for breakfast on a Monday morning.
Mr Gillan, 53, a civic attendant for Macclesfield council told the hearing: "This is not a support room - it is an exclusion room where pupils are taken out of mainstream rooms because they are disruptive.
''My daughter, who was being bullied, was put in the same room as people who caused problems at school and were disruptive.
Distrupted
''Her education was being disrupted by a group of girls and she was put in the same room as disruptive pupils. The system is flawed."
The tragedy occurred last January after Megan spent the weekend with her family buying presents for her five year old nephew.
Trouble began again on the Sunday night before school when Megan complained of stomach ache.
The youngster's mother, Margaret, 54, a hospital worker said: "She said to me out of the blue 'I'm not going to school tomorrow.'
"I said to her 'you have to go to school tomorrow because you've got a science exam in the morning.'
''She said 'I'm not going,' and I said to her 'I promise if you do the exam I'll come and pick you up afterwards, you don't have to stay for the afternoon, just for the exam, then I'll come and get you.'
Those were the last words I spoke to her. She wasn't worried about exams - she was a bright girl.''
The following morning at breakfast Mr and Mrs Gillan made the tragic discovery when they heard nothing from their daughter despite shouting at her to come downstairs.
Mrs Gillan added: ''I honestly believe that Megan took those tablets because she possibly either wanted to be poorly in the morning because she didn't want to go to school or to get attention, possibly from her friends and peers.
''I think she thought 'well if I end up in hospital tomorrow all my friends will come round me and will come to see me and that's how I will get them back."
A statement read by the coroner from one of Megan's friends said she had a conversation with the teenager at 6pm on the night before she was found dead.
The friend said: "Megan was crying and had seen a comment on someone's Bebo page about her.
''I talked to Megan for about twenty minutes. Megan was fed up but she had said she was going to try to ignore it. Megan didn't normally cry but she said she had taken some tablets, but she didn't know how many.
''Megan had said she felt sick. I later got a text from her saying: 'I love you, never forget that.'
Another friend - known only as Girl A said in a statement: "I was aware that Megan had been suffering from bullying or a comment about what two girls were going to wear to a party. I was aware the two girls had said something on Bebo about Megan having scabby belongings.
Mark Gillan
My daughter, who was being bullied, was put in the same room as people who caused problems at school and were disruptive
''Megan was a happy and nice girl, but had recently gone quieter. She got easily upset about things and there was one time when one girl had gone right up to Megan's face shouting at her prior to Christmas. '
'On the Sunday night Megan had been on MSN and I thought a friend had said something that upset her.''
Megan took an overdose of methanemic acid, a tablet she had been prescribed for period pains.
Megan's school co-ordinator, Pauline Holt, said "Megan said to me 'if you make me go back to school I'll kill myself' and there was concern about that.
"But we discussed it and by the end of the conversation she said she wanted to come back to school but she understood she wasn't being forced to come.
"Megan had agreed to go back to school on the basis that she wouldn't go back into the classroom with the rest of her class but would be in a supported learning room where she would be giving her classwork.
''She didn't have any access to the other girls she didn't want to see."
Mrs Holt was asked if there was a potential for problems with harrassment via mobile phones and the internet in school and Mrs Holt said it was more of a problem out of school.
She said, "It is how they communicate - Bebo, Facebook and mobile phones. It is something the school can't police. Although Megan had said she had issues with these girls she didn't show any of that in school."
Ged Ward, headteacher at Macclesfield High, said that he had been aware of the situation with Megan and a friend falling out three years prior to her death but he said he had successfully mediated that falling out by getting the two girls together in his office.
He said he had not been aware of Megan's current problems but that an inquiry had taken place at the school after her death and the school's policies regarding mobile phones and internet use had been assessed, but he said there had been no changes to the policies.
Recording verdict of accidental death Cheshire Coroner Mr Nicholas Rheinberg said, "Megan was a sensitive girl who didn't respond well to upset.
"It is unfortunate in this day and age that the tentacles of harrassment can reach outside the confines of school walls.
''There is no overt evidence that anything very wicked had been said, but it does appear that there was an argument that had developed in school which allowed to simmer in the days and weeks that followed after the initial upset.
"It is possible that something was heard on the Sunday night that particularly upset Megan.''
Weeks after her death Megan's parents received a letter from the school complaining about her lack of attendance. The school later apologised. Tweet
Comments
Login or Register to comment
This is disgusting and I hope those kids who made her lives a misery are ashamed of what they have done - cause her death. There's nothing wrong with her, she was a pretty girl and it was probably down to jealousy. Why didn't that school support her more, other than putting her in a room on her own ? Bullies are the ones to be excluded, not the victims.
I hope her tormenters are very proud of assisting in this young girls suicide.
Absolutely tragic story, the poor girl must have been so desperate. I really feel for her family and in particular her parents who must be going through hell.
These social networking sites really worry me, people say things they would never say to people's faces and that causes problems such as this. They should be policed.
I hope the girls who drove this poor girl to take her own life (albeit possibly accidentally), see her face in their dreams for the rest of their lives. I doubt that they would have envisaged this outcome, but nevertheless they should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Her poor parents must be devastated. My condolences for their tragic loss.
Terrible story, very sad. I wish that children in situations like this could somehow have the forsight to see that years later these bullies are usually the ones that end up unhappy and not the other way round.
I hope these girls can find it in their hearts to eflect on what they have done and realise the monsters they are. If not now, possibly in years to come.
School can be such an unhappy place for some children and it frustrates me that teachers often turn a blind eye, and don't tell me any different because it happened at my school
This sad case speaks volumes about the lack of care and action from the school. Their representatives need to look long and hard at their actions, or lack of them.
The sad thing is that bullies at school always seem to be the ones who achieve nothing with their lives. They'll likely spend their adult lives building up racks of kids and scrounging off the system. Makes me sick.
For any kids out there suffering bullying, check out Kidscape, the anti-bullying charity - www.kidscape.org.uk
Rest in peace Megan.
Sad story, my condolences to Megan's family. I was never bullied at school so I dont really understand what it must have been like for her.
You are at peace now, your tormentors are not
Tragic in the highest sense of the word, it is sad that this young lady couldn't see past the cruel and hurtful stuff. She sadly will never realise her dreams and goals, her taunters slowly but surely will come to realise what a terrible and pathetic thing they have done? They deserve to spend their sad sorry lives in utter remorse and guilt. But somehow I do not think that this ilk of child/teenager even has an ounce of humanity in their veins? That's how really cruel thing's are today HEARTLESS!
Today, Bullies get away with everything, while the victims do not get the support they need.
I once heard someone say that a lack of empathy is the source of evil and therefore the cause of much heartache and tragedy in this world. It is such a succinct statement that covers a multitude of acts/crimes against the individual, and is so true. Most people will exclude their minds away from the feelings of the victim before they commit the dirty deed. It's obviously happened here, and I hope the perpetrators will learn and suffer because of their hard-heartedness. My thoughts are with the family and friends of this girl. She didn't deserve it.
What a shocking story. I hope the bullies & their families fully realise the horror of what they have done for the rest of their lives .....
I was myself bullied badly at Counthill Grammar School many years ago - by pupils & staff - & have never really got over it.
This girl looks both beautiful on the outside as i am sure she was on the inside. Her bullies should be ashamed of themselves, what they sow so should they reap.
Pretty girl, shows how small-minded 'the herd' usually are. And how useless the huge crowd of public-sector non-jobs (school co-ordinator?) really are.
Name and shame the bullies!!
it is such a sad story. i was bullied physically and mentally at school i had to move from school to school and all the schools did the same with me. They isolate the victim not the bully and it is wrong it is very wrong and schools should have different approaches towards that.
And the teachers also wonder why when it gets a bad as this why the student does not go to them and tell them what has happened and that is because when you do go and tell them they tell you to just ignore them and they will get tiered of doing their jealous of you and all that. THEY DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT!
They are probably smirking even now, when they should be getting a steel toe cap in the gob.
I have had the same kind of issues with another social networking site. It is jealousy, but at the time it gives you the worst feeling ever, embarrassment, shame, and humiliation. Had I not had the support from my family and friends my fate could have been similar to Megan's. Some people in this world are a waste of skin. I hope the people that abused Megan in this way never get over the guilt.
RIP Megan, such a beautiful girl. xxx
From the comments given by the school, it looks like nothing has been learned about bullying since I was at school over 20 years ago. There is still the attitude that the person being bullied should be treated as if there is something wrong with them and there social skills, rather than the bullies being very firmly told (and shown) that their behaviour is completely unacceptable.
My deepest condolences to the family.
To the girls who bullied her. I hope you reflect to your dying day the harm you caused to this lovely girl and her family. I guarantee you WILL all be haunted by your actions throughout the rest of your miserable existence. May your last thoughts on Earth be of your cowardly actions and may your punishment await you when you die.
NICE ONE! I dont think!! The innocent get singled out for the bad person room while the bullys get nothing done to them.
It was years ago when i was informed by a teacher that the criterior for dealing with school bullys was for the teacher to pick on the weakest one in the gang and make an example of them to bring down the boss of the gang.
I could not see the logic in that at all at the time, seemed like cowardice of the teachers to me that did.
NOW according to all this the teachers pick on the victims (on top of the bullys doing it to them)putting the victims in isolation as though they are the ones at fault.
And do nothing at all about the bullies.
Why are these teachers not calling the police getting the bullys ASBO s and isolating the bullys in a seclusion room from the rest of the class.?
you are at peace and safe from this cruel world ,what a sweet child, my condolancies go to to the parents, all the levels of sorrow, pain, suffering, blame, anger, loss, and hurt, my heart goes out to you. but be strong as a family, i have had a similar loss, it feels so wrong, it souldnt happen this way, its not right to see your children go before you, i cannot my head around this, it just isnt right.
This is so very sad. R.I.P.Megan
Bullies should be named and shamed.
Is it just me, you'll find that there is often much more wrong with the bullies than the victim. Bullies are just trying to reassure themselves they are somehow superior by picking on others who often won't hit back. The fact they have to do that means they're quite sad people.