A young girl took her own life after being bullied by her classmates both in the classroom and online.
12-year-old Charley Patterson was found dead by her father on October 1 after she endured relentless bullying.
During her funeral at Whitley Bay Crematorium, Charley’s grieving mother said she was “no longer hurting or afraid.”
“Her smile always reached her eyes, she always had a cheeky smile and a wisecrack upon her lips,” Mrs. Patterson expressed.
Speaking to ChronicleLive, the heartbroken mother said: “She was like my shadow. During the day in the week it is easier because it’s as though she is at school. It is on a night or on a weekend and she’s not there. When you’re making dinner and there’s one less meal to make. It is so hard.”
During the funeral, Charley’s father Paul said: “We are all going to miss her sass, her cheek, her smile, her sense of fun, and as hard as it is to hear and to say, she’s no longer hurting and no longer afraid.
“The love that we have for her will stay forever in our hearts. She has always been my miracle baby girl and always will be. She will always be with us.”
Charley first attempted to commit suicide in November 2019, then again in March this year.
When the young girl tried to injure herself again in March, her parents were told by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service that they had to wait for three years for help.
“This was woefully inadequate. If we’d had to wait three years for help then Charley would have been 15. It was not very helpful,” Jamie said.
“No one should have to go through what we’ve been through.
“We want to stop this from happening to other families. We are campaigning for the law to be changed so that help is given within a reasonable time frame.”
The family wrote on a GoFundMe page: “She was taken unexpectedly from her family and friends on the evening of the 1st of October 2020. Charley was a loving, kind and thoughtful young girl with the world ahead of her.
“We never expected such a gorgeous girl to leave us so soon. She loved horses and had a gift with animals, with aspirations to be a zoo keeper.”
Her grieving family members are now campaigning for ‘Charley Law’ to come into force to make sure other families can get help immediately.
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