News stories from your youth that have stayed with you

[JabbaDaButt]

Researching Meryl Streep films for a work quiz reminded me of the infamous Dingo took my baby case.
I was nearly 9 years old that summer but I remember it being all over the news and on the newspapers headlines.
So glad the parents were exonerated of their baby’s death eventually.

Hillsborough
the ferry crash
That lady who was an estate agent and was kidnapped

The Melanie Road case was featured a couple of years ago in a documentary about cold cases. That poor young girl, I think she was yards from her home?
Fascinating though how years later they got the killer through familial DNA, and it made me wonder how many more perpetrators of unsolved murders are waiting for a knock on the door

I agree with Leah Betts. Her parents visited my school a year or so later & listening to them & seeing her photo meant I have never taken drugs in my life.

Her story had a profound affect on me & I hope they know how many children they saved from overdosing as they never ever took drugs due to what they bravely did.

The Yorkshire Ripper was a story literally close to home. I was in sixth form, in Sheffield, when a letter was sent to West Yorkshire Police which purported to be from the ripper and included the line 'Sheffield will not be missed'. Despite this warning, we girls continued to roam the streets in the dark and early hours, often alone, on the way back from clubs, parties and romantic assignations. Shortly after we all left Sheffield, the Ripper was picked up in a little road a few steps from our school. Occasionally now, I look back and feel the alarm for teenage me that was missing then, and give thanks for my DD, who doesn't appear to have inherited my reckless gene.

I was at school with Stuart Gough, it was awful. His family were very prominent in the village in the scouting movement and worked in the Spar.

Also I will never forget driving to school on the morning of the Hagley mini bus crash, so many innocent children and their teacher killed.

So much tragedy for one small community in such a small space of time.

Later another lad from my school was murdered in a stabbing in St. Pauls square.

I also went to uni with one of the victims of 7/7.

For a lot of my younger years I felt as though tragedy followed me around a bit.

Other news stories were Dunblane, James Bulger and MIllie Dowler and the death of Princess Diana.

Genette Tate going missing.

I remember the local police road blocks and the police after stopping my parents car then asking me my name and even checking the car boot.

I remember asking my parents why were we stopped and they said a young girl had gone missing and it was a complete mystery how she had simply disappeared.

I now reflect on the innocent naivety of my parents that it didn't even occur to them that she had probably been abducted.

The book To Hunt a Killer is an interesting read into how they finally found who did it.

So many of these resonate sadly.
For me the Bradford fire, it's my home town - it was live on TV. The footie commentator was struggling to report on the unfolding tragedy, it was heart breaking.
My then DP and I were F1 fans and we watched the GP at Imola when Ayrton Senna crashed and died.
Many more but these really stick because they were somehow personal.

Damilola Taylor, James Bulger, Jessica and Holly, Princess Diana.

Hungerford massacre. My dad lived near in a neighbouring village and we used to go to look in antique shops most weekends.
I was young and It made me worry about me and my little sisters being caught in the middle of something like that when we next visited and I had nightmares for months.

The Ethiopian famine.

The Wests also not far from my extended family’s neck of the woods and Fred West looked like my uncles best friend.

So many but atm it's JonBenet Ramsey, same as this time every year.
I'm reading foreign faction atm.

The horrendous murder of Sophie Hook in Wales has always stayed with me. Unbelievably awful.

Leah Betta has ensured I have never been tempted to try drugs, although Ecstasy was everywhere at that time.

Caroline Hogg and Susan Maxwell going missing.

Hillsborough happened the weekend I had an assignment for English to write about a news story and present it to the class. 99% of us wrote about it, so the teacher stopped the presentations after the 5th student and we talked about it instead.

I remember coming home from uni one lunch time and hearing the news about Dunblane.

I came to see Leah Betts and it’s amazing to see how many times she has been mentioned. I hope her parents know the impact her death had on other teenagers decisions.

Dunblane was local to me, absolutely heartbreaking.

I feel the same. That photo of Leah on her hospital bed REALLY stopped me ever wanting to try ecstasy, it just wasn't worth the risk. It must have been a hard decision to make to agree to that being published, but I imagine it might have saved quite a few lives....

9/11. I remember being at home from College and Neighbours was on just as the news broke. Horrific to think I watched the second plane crash in real time. To this day the video clips are hypnotic, a similar reaction to when a smell jogs a memory, instantly I’m 17 again watching the world take an unimaginable turn for the worst.

Rwanda
Bosnia
Leah Betts and Sarah Payne
9/11
And I must have been really very young, but a mini bus (?) crash which led to the introduction of the law that all mini buses and coaches must have seat belts fitted because so many school children died

Falklands war - I was about 6 and remember thinking …so this is how it is to be at war, it’s not that bad…lol
ferries sinking- zeebrugge and Greece
train crashes - Paddington
Waco siege - David Koresh cult mass suicide/murder
Loads of children going missing
Aids don’t die of ignorance
Hillsborough, Heisel
Band Aid

That moment when they were building the channel tunnel and the French and British engineers met in the middle under the sea and shook hands through the hole. I was absolutely amazed by that.

Lots of mine have already been mentioned but I remember the Warrington bombing and the young boy Tim Parry that was killed.
I remember seeing his dad being interviewed and it was just so upsetting.

Also the poor soldier Lee Rigby (that was slightly later) that was murdered.

The Aberfan disaster of 1966 made a deep impression on me. I was the same age as many of the children who died. I kept imagining how terrified they must have been when the huge wall of slag surged down the mountain and overwhelmed the school.

I had quite a few disturbed nights after that and had nightmares about being buried alive. I think it was the first time I became aware that terrible things happen and that sometimes children die and death isn't just reserved for old people dying from old age.

Absolutly, so many people of my generation remember her and I never touched drugs because of her sad case.

Same! This was the first case that sprung to mind. Maybe because so many other headlines like Jamie Bulger and Fred West sort of left you feeling powerless. Whereas, if I chose not to take E then at least one bad thing couldn't happen.

The other one was Tim Parry who was killed by an IRA bomb planted in a bin. I made sure I hurried past bins when I went to the nearest city.

Wow, so many influenced by Leah Betts.

I was going to mention her too. So awful. There was a documentary about her last year. I've never forgotten.