12 Year Old 'Emo' fan 'hanged herself after talking of suicide'

A 12-year-old girl hanged herself in her bedroom after visiting 'emo' websites to discuss suicide, an inquest has heard.

Rachel Jarvis was a fan of the 'emo' music of bands like My Chemical Romance and Evanescence, which is particularly popular among teenagers and often talks of suicide and describes dead fans as 'The Black Parade'.

Rachel's mother Maggie Jarvis, 35, told the inquest how she found her daughter, who also claimed to be a victim of bullies, on an American website called EmoStudent.com in November last year.

Just two months later, in January, Mrs Jarvis found her daughter hanged in her bedroom, with her favourite music playing.

Rachel was taken to hospital but died two days later after suffering severe brain damage.

Police investigating the death later found long-sleeved shirts with bloodstains at the wrists and Rachel's diary containing poetry and entries describing eight previous suicide attempts.

The inquest, at Hull Coroners' Court, heard Rachel had told a male friend who introduced her to the website that she was cutting herself with a razor and had thought about killing herself.

The boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said in a statement read to the inquest: "In the first week that we were friends, she said that she was going to go and cut herself.

"Other people used to say 'don't hang around with her because she's weird and you will get depressed if you are around her' but I didn't listen to them."

Mrs Jarvis, a former housing advisor with four children, told the inquest that she had begun to argue with her daughter more often as she approached her teenage years.

On January 13, she said she was about to bathe and put her two young sons to bed when she noticed Rachel's music playing loudly and went upstairs to ask her to turn it down.

Mrs Jarvis, of Hull, East Yorkshire, said: "I went upstairs to ask her to turn it down otherwise they wouldn't get to sleep. That's when I found her."

Rachel was taken to Hull Royal Infirmary but died on January 15.

Recording a narrative verdict, East Yorkshire coroner Geoffrey Saul said it was not clear if Rachel had intended to kill herself.

He said: "The evidence shows that she had talked to friends of hers about self harm but it doesn't seem that they were strong statements of immediate intention. There is no clear note although thoughts of death are mentioned.

"The suspension was at her own hand but the question of intent remains unclear."

In May this year, 'emo' culture was blamed by a coroner for the death of 13-year-old Hannah Bond, of East Peckham, Kent, who hanged herself.

Emo is generally understood to stand for 'emotional hardcore' and developed from roots in punk music. Fans often paint their nails black and wear black eyeliner.

Telegraph Online