Molly Russell inquest: Online life was 'the bleakest of worlds'

Molly Russell was aged 14 when she died in 2017

The father of a 14-year-old who took her own life has told her inquest he was shocked that such "dark, graphic, harmful material" was readily available to be seen by children online.

Molly Russell, from Harrow in north-west London, died in November 2017 after seeing content about suicide and self harm.

Ian Russell told North London Coroner's Court he looked at some of his daughter's web history after her death.

He called it "the bleakest of worlds".

Mr Russell told the inquest much of the content seemed to "normalise" self-harm and suicide and discouraged people to get help with mental health.

• In her own words - Molly Russell's secret Twitter account

He said relentless images and videos promoted the idea that the world was dark and hopeless.

"I also looked briefly at Molly's YouTube account and saw a… pattern - many normal teenage 'likes' and 'follows', but a similar high number of disturbing posts concerning anxiety, depression, self harm and suicide.

"On the family computer I saw that Molly continued to receive emails after her death from another social media platform, Pinterest.

"I was shocked to see the subject lines of the emails clearly promoting depressing content."

Mr Russell earlier told North London Coroner's Court that he hoped Molly's death would remind people that it was "OK not to be OK" and to seek help.

Molly Russell's father Ian Russell (centre), mother Janet Russell (right) and her sister (left) arrive at Barnet Coroner's Court

He said the family noticed her change during the last year of her life, as she became more withdrawn.

"I knew Molly had an Instagram account and a Twitter account as I also had accounts on these platforms and we 'followed' each other, as did other members of the family.

"Molly closed the Twitter account of hers that we were all following and it was only after her death that I found out she had opened another account on Twitter."

Mr Russell told the inquest: "Just as Molly would have wanted, it is important to seek to learn whatever we can and then to take all necessary action to prevent such a young life being wasted again."

• Molly Russell's inquest to put focus on big tech

• Tech bosses ordered to appear at Molly Russell inquest

A statement read out to the court on behalf of Molly's mother Janet outlined what happened when she discovered her daughter's body.

Mrs Russell said on the morning of her daughter's death, she was doing household chores and said goodbye to one of her other daughters who was leaving for school, before she began looking around the house for Molly, but could not find her.

Her statement said: "I knew then something wasn't right. I saw a load of her clothes on the floor (of her bedroom). For some reason I thought Molly had run away.

"As I looked in her room, I found her… I had no doubt it was her."

Molly used her Instagram account up to 120 times a day

In a witness statement read to the court on behalf of retired Metropolitan Police detective Michael Walker, the coroner was told Molly watched videos uploaded by an American social media influencer who spoke about "suicide and depression on a regular basis".

The court was told the youngster had also followed a Twitter account which "displays depressing quotes".

The account has since been suspended.

Mr Russell said: "Five years ago, Molly's feelings of worthlessness grew and her sense of helplessness deepened, and ending her life seemed to her like a solution - while to us her life seemed very normal.

"It's all too easy to forget the person she really was: someone full of love and hope and happiness, a young person full of promise and opportunity and potential.

"And so, as this inquest starts, we, her family, think it is essential to remember who Molly really was so we can each hold a picture in our minds of a caring individual, full of love and bubbling with excitement for what should have lay ahead in her life."

Senior employees from Meta, the parent company of Instagram and Facebook, and Pinterest, are due to give evidence in person at Molly's inquest.

The inquest, which is expected to last for two weeks, will examine the algorithms used by social media to channel content to users.

If you've been affected by self-harm or emotional distress, help and support is available via the BBC Action Line.

Follow BBC London on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail]