MEGAN EVANS was just 14-years-old when she tragically ended her life on February 7, 2017, after enduring ten harrowing months of relentless bullying—both online and in person. That day, she received a devastating message on Snapchat that read: “Go kill yourself.” Hours later, her family discovered her lifeless in their bathroom.

Last week, Pembrokeshire Coroner Paul Bennett ruled Megan’s death a suicide, attributing it to personal struggles, including her boyfriend’s infidelity and her father’s illness. He dismissed the extensive bullying Megan endured as ‘banter,’ stating that phrases like “go kill yourself” were, in his view, “regular use” online. “What may be bullying to one could be banter to another,” he remarked.

Megan’s mother, Nicola Harteveld, has voiced her deep disappointment at the coroner’s findings, questioning his understanding of the destructive power of social media and the pervasive dangers it poses to vulnerable young people. “At the time of her death, Meg didn’t know where to turn,” Nicola told The Herald. “She was like a caged animal.”

“At the time of her death, Meg didn’t know where to turn,” she said.  “She was like a caged animal.

“And the people around her – her friends – could see the detrimental effect it was having on her.

“She was wise beyond her years, to the extent that if she was going to do something, she would do it to the best of her ability.  If she didn’t give it 110%, then she wouldn’t do it.

“When I found out that she had killed herself, I knew categorically that this was what she wanted to do. And it was the result of ten months of hell.  Ten months of being bullied and ten months of gradually losing trust in everything around her.  As a result of what was happening, Megan lost trust in her school, and this was the catalyst of her not being able to trust in me.”

Nicola began to notice that things were not right with her daughter in May 2016, which was nine months before her death.

“It was the Monday of half term, she’d gone out with her friends but she phoned me, crying.  She said, ‘Come and get me, I’m scared’.

“The girls had collared her down Milford Beach and Meg was hysterical.  She later told me that they’d done the same thing to her the previous Saturday…they’d hammered her, and now they were doing the same thing to her again.”

Nicola Hartefeld collected Megan from the beach and immediately rang the police. Following a police interview, the girls responsible for the assault were given a police caution.

Matters continued to deteriorate throughout the autumn term when the bullying to which Megan was being subjected began affecting her conduct and her concentration in the classroom.  Between September and February, there were nine recorded incidents, including C1 and C2 warnings and detentions.  This, alleges Nicola, was because Megan was being ‘picked on’ by staff for her incorrect school uniform as well as other pupils.

“Before this, Meg had never been in trouble, yet the coroner failed to see this.

“In January, I noticed she wasn’t eating properly…she was just eating junk food and I heard from her friends that even when she was eating something small, like a sandwich, she’d always share it.  She was losing weight.

“So I decided that Megan should come home for lunch every day.”
But on January 13, Megan failed to appear.

“I texted her to find out what had happened, and she said that she had been put in detention.  But it was lunchtime so this should never have been allowed to happen.  I was furious.

“Megan was being prevented from coming home to eat her lunch.”

Following a verbal altercation between Megan’s father, Sean Evans, and school staff, Megan was finally allowed to leave the school premises to eat her lunch.

Four days later, Megan once again rang her mother in tears after being told she couldn’t attend a careers trip to Pembrokeshire College with the rest of her Year 9 pupils.

“Megan didn’t have the permission slip signed so I went straight up to the school, at around 9.20am, to sign it.

“But one of the teachers told me that Megan was unable to go as she didn’t have parental permission.  They were adamant about this.  And yet there I was, her mother, giving her full permission.  Megan really wanted to go on that trip with everyone else but she couldn’t.

“For the rest of that week she was off school with chest pains and anxiety.

“Megan was always a bright, clever girl, but by now she hated being in that school environment.  

“I discovered that she was walking out of virtually every single lesson, in tears.  There had been this massive decline and yet the school did nothing to find out why this was happening.  Instead they were chipping away at her, constantly.”

Finally on February 7, 2017,  Megan received a Snapchat message from a pupil in another school.  The message read ‘Go kill yourself’.  Later that evening 14-year-old Megan was found hanging in her parents’ bathroom.

“The day Meg died was the day that our relationship with her school ended,” continued Nicola.  “The first we heard from them following her death was a solicitor’s letter, so they had closed ranks.

“Since her death, I’ve spent the last seven years doing my utmost to raise awareness that it’s not ok to use social media to bully, to condemn or to antagonise others. I

“I’ve tried to show how important it is to look out for warning signs that things may be going wrong, I’ve tried to break the stigma and encourage young people to speak out and express the ways in which they are being bullied.

“But with one fell swoop, the coroner stood on all those efforts and quashed them.  He said that those words sent to Megan and all the bullying she’d had to endure amounted to banter and nothing more.  

“But I know wholeheartedly that words can kill, because all those words killed my daughter.  And by describing them as banter undermines their power.”

Nicola’s sentiments are endorsed in an extract found in Megan’s diary.

“People say it was a joke, but sometimes it goes too far,” she wrote during the last weeks of her life.

“In my opinion, the findings of Megan’s inquest are an injustice to every young person who’s suffering from mental health as they imply that if someone tells you to go kill yourself, then as long as you can stand up for yourself, then you won’t be emotionally affected by it.

“The coroner was negating any responsibility from the people who undermined her throughout those last months of her life.

“As a result, Megan’s legacy has been destroyed.”

A COURT has heard how a 22-year-old  man, described by his solicitor as drug dependent, was found unconscious at a Pembrokeshire industrial estate following an alcohol and ketamine binge in Milford Haven.

Officers were called to the industrial estate in Johnston just after 8 pm on November 5, following reports that Jamie Wilkinson was lapsing in and out of consciousness as he lay on the ground.

“By the time the officers got there, he’d passed out,” Crown Prosecutor Derek Davies told Haverfordwest magistrates this week.

“The officers decided to take him home to the safety of his mother, but when the officers removed the handcuffs, he became very agitated.

“He started remonstrating with his mother, the police tried to calm him down, but he pushed one of the officers backwards.”

In a subsequent interview at the police station, Wilkinson said he had no memory of the incident.

This week Wilkinson, of North Court, Haverfordwest, pleaded guilty to assaulting an emergency worker by beating.

Probation officer Julie Norman told magistrates that the incident took place after Wilkinson had visited Milford Haven with friends, where he consumed alcohol, ketamine and other ‘unprescribed drugs’.

“He went to the train station in Milford Haven to get the train home, but from then onwards, he can’t remember anything,” she said.

“The defendant was found unconscious in Johnston, and the next thing he remembers was waking up in a police cell.”

Meanwhile Wilkinson’s solicitor, Tom Lloyd, said the defendant is a daily cannabis user as a result of his ADHD and post traumatic stress disorder.

“He’s a very vulnerable young man,” he said.  “He’s severely autistic and when the incident took place he didn’t know where he was nor what he was doing.”

Wilkinson was sentenced to a 12 month community order during which he must carry out ten rehabilitation activity requirement days.  He was fined £40 and ordered to pay £50 compensation to the police officer, a £114 court surcharge and £85 costs.

A DEEPLY moving Advent Procession took place at St Davids Cathedral this evening (Dec 1), marking the start of the festive season with a celebration of light amidst darkness and a reflection on the longing for Christ’s return.

The service began in solemnity at the West Door, with the congregation gathered in darkness. As the procession made its way through the Quire and toward the High Altar at the East, light was carried forward, symbolizing the arrival of hope and illumination in the season of Advent.

The event was enriched by a combination of hymns, carols, and Scripture readings, creating an atmosphere of reverence and spiritual anticipation. Each moment of the service invited attendees to reflect on the Advent themes of waiting, hope, and preparation for the coming of Christ.

St Davids Cathedral, renowned for its historical and architectural significance, provided a fitting backdrop for this ancient tradition, with its stone arches and candlelit spaces adding to the profound sense of occasion.

The Advent Procession is a cornerstone of the cathedral’s seasonal offerings, drawing worshippers from across Pembrokeshire and beyond to prepare their hearts and minds for Christmas.

(Photos: St Davids Cathedral)