The heartbroken dad of Hannah Smith who killed herself after allegedly being targeted by online abusers has hit back at claims she had been trolling herself.
Bosses at ask.fm – whose users reportedly sent the tragic teen such vile message as 'drink bleach' - claim Hannah sent the abuse to herself. The Latvian company say that 98 per cent of the messages were 'sent from a computer with same IP address as Hannah's'.
Hannah was found hanged in her bedroom at the family home in Lutterworth, Leicestershire ten days ago. She was discovered by her sister, Jo, 16, who has been left so traumatised by her death that she is unable to go back upstairs on her own.
Despite pledging to release the names of her abusers, The Mail reports that the founders of ask.fm now believe Hannah sent the vast majority of hate messages to herself, with only four of them coming from a machine with a different IP address to her own.
Her dad, David, 45, has been left angered by the company's claims.
"Hannah was a 14-year-old girl who was being bullied and she took her own life," he said. "Ask.fm is trying to cover its own back by discrediting Hannah. It's disgusting."
He added that regardless of whether Hannah sent any messages to herself, she was still being tormented.
"She was bullied online.Whether she wrote some of it herself doesn't make any difference. A 14-year-old girl has taken her own life because she was being bullied on the internet," he said. "If Hannah did do some of it herself, then it just shows how desperate she was."
He added that ask.fm should be working to stop the abuse and not trying to deflect the blame for his daughter's death.
"Ask.fm has information to say that Hannah was being bullied but they have not passed on that information," he said. "They are trying to discredit a 14-year-old girl who has committed suicide."
Her dad also said that the company has not contacted him at all about Hannah's suicide.
"They have not once been in touch with me. Hannah has touched a lot of hearts. But they are trying to discredit her because this company was making millions."
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