Hannah Smith not bullied online, police find

Police say that the 14-year-old British schoolgirl found dead by suicide last August wasn't the victim of cyberbullying, rather it seems that she was the one posting the inappropriate messages about herself.

According to The Associated Press, while Hannah Smith might be the victim of bullying at school (though there seem to be differing reports on that too), anything online was something she did herself.

Detective Sergeant Wayne Simmons said that the investigation found that it was likely she was responsible for the "vile" messages discovered on Ask.fm after her death. The messages set off a debate about social media sites and bullying, reports The Telegraph.

But it seems that the investigation looked into Hannah's laptop and the IP addresses for the comments found it was more likely she was posting them herself.

Leicester and South Leicestershire coroner Catherine Mason said it isn't a surprise there was an outcry about online bullying after death because "It was quite clear that when Hannah died it was a huge shock to all that knew and loved her."

She added, "Friends and family saw those (messages) after the event and that caused a lot of upset, understandably that it might have taken Hannah to the point where she found herself on August 2, last year."

Hannah's father David Smith testified that his daughter's personality seemed to change for the worse after she got into a fight with her friend at a party. He also believed that she was being bullied at school, possibly due to her eczema.

Lutterworth High School headteacher Nora Parker testified that though Hannah was generally pleasant, she was found to have been the bully in "two separate occasions."

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