Josh Unsworth: 1998 - April 4, 2013


On April 4, 2013, Lancashire Police responded to a call to an address in Camforth Hall Lane in Goosnargh. There, the police found 15-year-old Joshua Unsworth hanging in a garden outside his family's home.

Joshua was another causality of the Latvia-based social networking site Ask.FM. On the website, anonymous users would often make fun of Joshua's father's occupation. Users would also label Joshua as a "player" and accuse him of mistreating girls. One user even went as far as to say "honestly no one cares for you even your own parents don't want you, there (sic) gunna put you in care."

In response a post where a user told Joshua that no one liked him, Joshua said "Let me tell you within that time I have learnt that words are, well just words so whatever your miserable low life self thinks of me can say to my face or on here knowing I don't care."

Among the negative messages on Ask.FM, there were also supportive and caring messages, many from Joshua's friends. At one point, Joshua's father had gotten on his account where he wrote messages to the users demanding an apology. Mr. Gary Unsworth added that he called the Lancashire Police. The Unsworth family had planned to report the abuse to the police before Joshua hanged himself.