Mums of Scots girls tormented online say bullying hell "robbed them of childhoods"

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The mums of two Scots schoolgirls who were tormented online before being brutally attacked have told how their daughters' bullying hell "robbed them of their childhoods".

Angela Jarvis, 45, and Vicky Donald, 38, are backing Children First after the charity declared a "childhood emergency" in Scotland on Wednesday. The national emergency was announced as the organisation called for urgent action to address a mental health crisis among youths exacerbated by online harm.

Angela, whose 14-year-old daughter, Abbie, was beaten at a skatepark in Glasgow, told how Abbie was left with "no escape" after her attack in October 2022. The then 12-year-old was targeted online before she was lured into the facility in the city's Drumchapel and set upon by another girl.

The child was hospitalised for several days and has since been diagnosed with PTSD. Her sickening assault was filmed by a group of onlookers before it was uploaded online.

Reacting to the "childhood emergency", Angela told the Record: "I'm glad that people are recognising the impact online bullying and violence can have on children. Abbie was coming home after being bullied outside yet she had no escape because the torment would just move to being online.

"There is no escape for these kids - most children have access to social media nowadays. With Abbie, she had to cut herself off from the world so she could try to move on and feel safe.

"There was no getting away from it for her. When children come home, that should be their safe space - it should be their haven. But with this surge in online bullying, they're being tormented all day, every day.

"Abbie couldn't feel safe at home because she couldn't shut the door on the bullying. It robbed her of her happiness and her childhood. The Scottish Government needs to come down hard on these social media giants who are turning a blind eye to online bullying and who are allowing violent clips of teens to be shared far and wide.

"We need better legislation for these social media companies to be monitored around the clock."

Vicky Donald, whose 13-year-old daughter, Kaylynn, was attacked on a bus on her way home from school in Ladybank, Fife, told how her daughter's online bullying hell - which ultimately led to her assault - changed her daughter "completely". Kaylynn, then 12, was left needing mental health support following the beating, which took place just three weeks after Abbie was attacked in Glasgow.

Vicky told the Record: "I welcome this national emergency and I commend Children First for recognising the impact online bullying can have on our children's childhoods. After Kaylynn's online bullying, which led to her school bus attack, she changed completely.

"She'll be 14 soon, but it feels like she is going on 40. She is no longer the sweet and innocent girl that I had sent to high school. She became cynical and I fully believe that the experiences of violence and online harm robbed her of her childhood.

"As a mum, it was heartbreaking to watch my child enduring worries some adults may not ever experience in their lifetime. The government needs to hold these social media companies to account, they are destroying the lives of our youths, stripping them of their childhoods.

"There is a direct link between online bullying and violence. If online bullying persists the way Kaylynn's did, eventually, it will lead to violence. There was a lot of online bullying before Kaylynn's attack and that link to violence needs to be tackled in Scotland."

Abbie and Kaylynn's assaults were previously highlighted as part of the Record's Our Kids ... Our Future campaign, which has repeatedly called on social media giants to do more to tackle online bullying. As part of the campaign, we have also demanded tech companies to remove violent clips of teens before they are circulated.

The campaign was launched in February last year after a series of horrific attacks on children and young people across the country.

Mary Glasgow, Children First chief executive, said: “Today we are declaring a childhood emergency in Scotland. The Daily Record has done some important work over the last two years highlighting some of the horrific bullying, violence and abuse that some children and young people have suffered.

“These heartbreaking stories highlight the serious issues with cyberbullying, smartphones and social media that are fuelling this childhood emergency. Content showing such extreme and disturbing acts of violence should not be on social media. The big companies must take responsibility for this and put safeguards in place to stop our children and young people from seeing this.”

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