'How far can you bounce?': The extraordinary taunts of sick ghouls who jeered as a teenager leapt to his death

A jeering crowd taunted a suicidal teenager as he threatened to jump from the top of a city-centre car park.

In a shocking indictment of modern Britain, youths who gathered in the street below yelled at 17-year-old Shaun Dykes to kill himself over the course of three hours.

One allegedly shouted: 'How far can you bounce?'

Troubled: Shaun Dykes, 17, plunged to his death from a car park as a crowd of onlookers urged him to jump



The A-level student eventually plunged 60ft to his death after police negotiators tried in vain to talk him down.

In a final sickening act, some of those responsible for the abuse outside the Westfield shopping centre in Derby rushed from behind the police cordon to take pictures of the teenager's body on their mobile phones.

Yesterday police branded the mob's behaviour at the scene of Saturday's tragedy a 'shocking reflection on society'.

Horrifying end: Friends describe Shaun as funny and popular



Superintendent Andy Hough, of Derbyshire police, said he was 'disturbed' by some of the comments aimed at the teenager, who is believed to have suffered from depression and also to have been upset at the breakdown of a relationship.

People were at the police cordon shouting for the man to jump,' Superintendent Hough said.

'I find it a disturbing and shocking reflection on society when people feel inclined to do that.

'Negotiators were working with the man threatening to jump and it was their job to talk to him in the hope of changing his mind.

'We really need the public to work with us, not against us. It was a very disappointing situation.'

Shaun, from Kilburn, near Derby, had climbed over a railing on the top floor of the car park, which is above the busy shopping mall.

Police cordoned off the pavement on the car park side, but pedestrians were still able to walk down the opposite pavement, and crowds formed.

A shopkeeper who witnessed the incident said groups of youths were responsible for shouting at Shaun as he was sitting on the edge of the roof.

'Quite a few people were hanging around watching what was happening and the police were telling them to move on,' he said.

'Most just stopped for a few minutes and then left.

'But there were some people shouting things like "Jump" and "Get on with it!" They were teenagers with nothing better to do who seemed to think it was funny.

Death plunge: The Westfield shopping centre multi-storey car park in Derby from which Shaun fell

'When he fell, lots of people were screaming and crying but there were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and looked like they were taking pictures with their mobile phones.

'I found that sickening - why would anyone want to take pictures of something like that?'

The Mayor of Derby, Councillor Barbara Jackson, called on the those responsible for goading Shaun to 'learn some respect', while the Bishop of Derby, the Rt Rev Dr Alastair Redfern, said he was 'horrified'.

Mike Shewan, chief executive of Derbyshire Mental Health Services NHS Trust, said: 'We can't condemn this sort of behaviour strongly enough.

'No one knows what was going on in his head, but encouraging him to jump is so wrong. It is hindering the police and the people who care from doing their job.'

Yesterday Shaun's parents, who are separated, were too distraught to talk about their only child.

His mother, Joy, lives with partner Kevin Lacey in Kilburn. He said Shaun would be 'so sadly missed'.

Flowers and tributes were left at the spot where he died.

Tribute: Friends and family have left flowers and cards at the tragic scene

Lindsey Reid, 17, Shaun's best friend, said: 'He was the joker and smiled all the time. He was so funny and everyone knew him because he was so popular.'

On his MySpace web page, the teenager said he hoped to work in accounting, and that he wanted to die 'quietly' when the time came.

The former John Flamsteed School pupil was studying at the Heanor Gate Science College, in Heanor, Derbyshire.

Heanor Gate head teacher Rob Howard said some students who had witnessed the tragedy were being offered counselling.

He added: 'At least one of our students also witnessed the shocking encouragement of Shaun to jump and was both horrified and angry.

'I sometimes wonder what value some people put on human life.'

Mr Howard said Shaun had ' personal issues' out of school.

Derbyshire police referred Shaun's death to the Independent Police Complaints Commission, which has decided not to investigate.

Officers will carry out their own inquiry and an inquest will be held later.

A force spokesman said: 'A small minority of onlookers - mainly other youths - were the ones shouting the abuse. It is a very sad state of affairs.'

He had no knowledge of anybody taking pictures of Shaun after he fell and said the cordon was designed to restrict access to the street, whilst 'minimising disruption for shoppers'.

Nobody was likely to be arrested as a result of the abuse directed at Shaun, he added.