Bullies torment schoolgirl, 15, with fake online boyfriend before telling her on Facebook he'd killed himself

Three-month hoax led to police investigation

2,000 people posted comments on online tribute site to fake suicide



Callous teenagers used Facebook to trick a schoolgirl into believing she had an online boyfriend – then lied that he had committed suicide and accused her of being responsible.

In an elaborate case of cyber-bullying, the two 16-year-old girls hatched the plot following a row with their victim. They created a bogus Facebook profile of a fictional boy they called Jaydon Rothwell, using a random picture of a teenager.

They used it to send messages to the 15-year-old, convincing her they were forming a relationship.

Cyber bullies: Teenage girls tricked another teen into thinking she had an online boyfriend, Jaydon Rothwell, by using Facebook

Then they posted a comment on ‘his’ page from another girl. When the victim challenged ‘Jaydon’ she received the horrifying news he had killed himself after being dumped.

The girls created the Facebook page ‘RIP Jaydon Rothwell’ which attracted 2,000 members. The victim was then targeted with abusive calls blaming her for the tragedy.

‘The officers said “You need to sit down, there’s no dead boy”. My first thought was that my daughter had been groomed by a paedophile because the police were asking “Has she ever met this boy?” SCHOOLGIRL'S MOTHER

It was only after police checked records of sudden deaths and confirmed he had never existed she learned told the truth. The case – thought to be the first of its kind – highlights the dangers of online bullying, police said last night.

The hoax began in December after one of the girls – who all live in Blackburn – accused the younger one of seeing an ex-boyfriend. She then received a friend request on Facebook from ‘Jaydon’. They exchanged messages and arranged to meet.

The hoax then escalated when she was introduced to a boy she was told was Jaydon. She had been drinking with friends in a park and it was dark, and as the boy looked similar to the Facebook picture they kissed and she went home feeling delighted.



‘I wasn’t in love, but I said I was and did have strong feelings for him,’ she said yesterday. Last month she saw a post on his page from another girl and demanded: ‘What’s this about?’

According to the bogus tribute page, Jaydon took a lethal cocktail of drink and drugs after his girlfriend accused him of being unfaithful.