Did anything really tragic happen at your school?

[TattiePants]

I’ve spent today thinking about a murder that happened when I was at school over 30 years ago. I think it’s on my mind partly because it happened when I was sitting my GCSEs and DS is doing his now but also it’s been in the local news that another loosely connected child murder may finally be solved.

A boy from year 3 went missing and he was found murdered in a nearby derelict house. In the year prior to that, two other children had been killed in tragic circumstances so it was a really horrible time for the school community. Things got worse when a year 5 boy was arrested for the murder and spent months in custody, missing all his GCSEs. Many of us then had to give witness statements as we knew the arrested boy well. It took over 20 years for the actual murderer to be convicted and unfortunately he’d gone on to murder more boys from my school by then.

In all the years my DCs and friend’s DCs have been at school, they’ve (thankfully) never had anything like this. There’s been fights, teenage pregnancies, minor drug offences etc but nothing on this scale. Did anyone else have something really tragic happen when they were at school.

I was at Soham in the Ian Huntley years. He was a creep

One lad in the year below me died of meningitis.... that’s about as tragic as it got.

My 12yo friend died abroad in a car accident. She was sat on another childs knee and driver was drunk. The family didnt really recover.
One teacher had a brain haemorrhage.

When I was in primary a boy from the secondary school in our town was assaulted and murdered. My friend's mum was shot dead by her partner, that was so terribly sad as we were close. My son's school head died when he hadn't long started in middle school. Within about a year, a girl in my son's high school died from a dog attack and then my son's friend died by accidental hanging. A few years later there was the arena bombing and most of the kids knew someone affected/injured. The school community really had such a hard time, so many were affected by those events.

This.

Are you all writing out the details of these tragedies for entertainment? Information? To highlight the dangers out there? Be honest about your motives.

I do not buy the idea that it's to keep their memory alive, that's a job for their loved ones to do, not the job of the tragically deceased's cousin's friend's cat's neighbour on a forum to strangers.

If you are genuinely traumatised by knowing these tragedies then please seek counselling or donate to an appropriate charity.

@Workyticket yes and I so hope they’ve got the right man this time. Her poor mother has waited so long without answers. That’s what set me off thinking today, the man who murdered the boys at my school was a suspect in her murder at one point.

Shortly after I left school a classmate of mine who i sat with in science got killed by a train. 17 years old. Such a nice lad

I remember that on the news

Why are you reading it then?

I don't like this thread and question the motive behind it

A girl died of a heroin overdose. A boy died from chickenpox. A teacher died of Cystic Fibrosis. 2 teachers convicted of child abuse. One a games teacher, one an RE teacher.

A boy had died on the playing field hit by a javelin years before my time.

Yes a murder of a 12 year old friend. It has never been solved

A classmate was murdered by a man when we were in year 10, more than 30 years ago. Awful. He got out about 8 years ago . Love to her.

Why are you reading it then?

Such a stupid reply & one that's always trotted out.

I didn't read every gruesome reply but I got the sense of the thread & commented on how distasteful I found it. I've also reported it.

Twins in my class year four one Sunday morning were found dead by the parents. Playing Spaceman they had put plastic bags over their heads. I still think of them when I hear of a tragic death

A girl in my year committed suicide age 13, she’s been gone 20 years now.

When I was a little bit older a recent former pupil was murdered in Thailand.

@TattiePants @BackToWhereItAllBegan I also went to that school though I'd left by the time this happened. My parents live near the allotments where one (or more, can't quite remember) were found and my boyfriend lived very close to the building where another was found. Tragic, I know someone who came very close to being another of his victims. With regard to the case in the media today, hopefully this will bring some closure for the family

A girl died of cancer and a teacher's daughter died in a car crash

I'm shocked reading this and I'mnotsur show to feel. I don't like how blazé it is sounding from some posters. I don't think there's anything wrong with sharing sad stories respectfully.

*I'm not sure how to feel

@fUNNYfACE36 obviously it’s ok to not like a thread but what do you think my motive is. I purposely made the title clear so no one would click on it by mistake.

@NinetyNineRedBalloonsGoByAgain i can’t speak for anyone else but whilst I’m not traumatised by what happened and don’t need counselling it is something I think about from time to time. I’ve also thought about it more in recent years, maybe because my DC is a similar age to what I was or maybe just as an adult / parent I have a different perspective to what I had as a teenager.

Other people’s comments have also got me questioning things from back then. Why wasn’t there any mental health support, why didn’t we have a remembrance service, was my area really as safe as I thought it was?

In my local village, when i was in primary, a girl was snatched while out playing with her friends, she was found a week or so later under one or her mothers friends floorboards. while she was missing was the only time we ever felt unsafe as children, because no body knew what had happened.

A girl in my school accidentally killed a classmate with a javelin.

Car crash at 6 th form, 3 died and one left with life changing injuries she was trapped in the car and badly burnt.

A girl was eaten by an alligator on her gap year.

The father of a classmate of my brother was shot down during the Gulf War and captured by the Iraqis. A few years later, when I was at the school a boy in the year below's mother was murdered in her own home. On both occasions the entire school was given a strict "do not talk to the press" order.