The mother of a Fife youth who took his own life after becoming involved in a webcam blackmail plot spoke of her devastation and urged others not to be taken in by the cyber scam.
The 17-year-old from Dunfermline was snared in online Skype conversations with someone he believed was a girl of the same age.
But when what is thought to have been a sexually-themed video of the call was used to try to blackmail the teenager intoparting with cash, he decided life was no longer worth living and jumped to his death from the Forth Road Bridge.
The teenager died on July 15 after being pulled from the water.
The apprentice mechanic, from ahappy family background, was told by blackmailers that if he did not pay money into a specified account the Skypefootage would be shown to friends andfamily.
The criminals warned the teenager he “would be better off dead” if he did not pay up.Less than an hour later the youngster took his own life.
The mother, who asked that she and her son remain anonymous, said police had taken away his laptop and established that her son had been speaking over the course of several months to a girl whom he believed was from the USA.
She said: “It was a female that he was talking too she was supposed to be from Illinois.
“I believe they were talking for a few months and he believed he was talking to this American girl.But whoever is behind this scam has manipulated the footage.
“These people are clever and dangerous.
“I believe he didn’t give them any money and I don’t know how much they asked from him.It was a webcam to webcam talk, it wasn’t anything different than any teenager of that age.
“He was nearly a man, I couldn’t go into his bedroom and ask what he was doing.”
Recalling the night he died, she said: “He stayed at my mum’s house every Monday night and left at 7.30pm. He sent a text at 7.45pm saying he would be home soon but he never made it.”
She added: “I’m horrified at what’s happened, I keep thinking he’s going to walk through the door and say ‘ha, fooledyou’.
“I wish I could tell him that nothing is ever that bad that you have to kill yourself.Someone saw him jump off the bridge and called for help. “He was only in the water for six minutes. He died in hospital at 9.45pm. My brother had to go and identify him, but I couldn’t bear it.
“Parents need to tell their children that nothing is that bad that is worth taking your own life.Nothing is that bad that it can’t be sorted.”
His mother said that when she feels strong enough she wants to go intoschools and do something to stopsimilar things happening to other young people.
She added: “I’ll go to the high schools and tell them what can happen. If I can save just one life, or help one person then I will have done my job