A schoolgirl took her own life after viewing material about suicide on a school iPad.
Frances-Rose Thomas, known as Frankie, died in September 2018 after viewing the harmful content on the device on which filters to block unsuitable websites were not working property.
Her parents Judy and Andy are campaigning for legal changes to the way students access harmful material in a bid to prevent other parents living the nightmare they went through.
Judy told SurreyLive : "Every day of delay may be allowing another youngster to also access harmful sites at school if preventative measures are not introduced urgently." She believes Frankie's death was "preventable".
Frankie, 15, had a diagnosis of high-functioning autism and was prone to impulsive behaviour while she attended Stepping Stones, a special school in Hindhead that has since rebranded as Undershaw.
Although her parents strictly monitored her access to the internet on computers and her phone at home, they were unaware that she was able to view harmful content on devices at school, on which filters to block unsuitable websites were not working correctly, her inquest heard.
As a result, on the day of her death, Frankie had been able to spend more than two hours, unsupervised, looking at content relating to suicide, including on a storytelling platform. She then came home at about 4pm and went upstairs to spend time in her bedroom, so Judy did some chores downstairs before preparing to take her to a music lesson an hour later.
"At 5 o'clock I just called up the stairs like I usually did to tell her it was time to go," Judy said. "She didn't answer so I went up the stairs into her room and she was sitting there. I thought she was messing around so I went to tickle her, but then I realised what had happened."
Emergency services came to the house and paramedics tried to revive Frankie while police officers interviewed Judy and Andy. An ambulance then took Frankie to Royal Surrey County Hospital where efforts to resuscitate her continued while Judy held her hand. Sadly the medical staff were unable to save her, and she was pronounced dead at 6.57pm.
"It was so sudden, it was such a shock," said Judy. "But we decided from the outset that we weren't going to be bitter or seek revenge. It wouldn't bring Frankie back and it would damage us."
Judy and Andy soon started trying to learn more about what had led to their daughter's death. It was then that they learned about the content she had been accessing. The filters that the school believed to be in place had not prevented her from finding harmful content, and previous instances of her looking for similar material earlier in the same year had not been picked up either.
Frankie's inquest concluded in October last year, and the coroner reported that "there was a failure of responsibility and duty by the school to provide an adequate and effective e-security system for all school-provided electronic devices". The report also noted that there was not an adequate system in place to ensure staff received alerts if students attempted to access blocked content.
Judy and Andy are now campaigning to make it a legal requirement for schools to monitor their online security arrangements and to regularly check that staff are receiving alerts correctly. They have learned that there is now a much better system in place at Undershaw, but they want to ensure that such provision becomes standard procedure at all schools.
An Undershaw spokesperson said: "Our entire school community was devastated by the tragic death of Frankie Thomas. We have been proactive in implementing new and highly robust e-safety measures to ensure the welfare and safety of all our pupils. Our school leadership team monitors these structures regularly."
Remembering her daughter, Judy said: "She was a real livewire. She had a huge sense of humour, and she loved the scariest rides at theme parks. She was also really kind, and I'm not just saying that as her mum."
Samaritans (116 123) operates a 24-hour service available every day of the year. If you prefer to write down how you’re feeling, or if you’re worried about being overheard on the phone, you can email Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org.
