A GRIEVING mother has publicly forgiven the school bullies who contributed to her daughter’s suicide three months ago.
Samantha Taylor, from Strathspey in the Scottish Highlands, took to social media to post a younger photo of Jade McGrath alongside a picture of her gravestone.
Along with the photos, Samantha stated she forgives Jade’s bullies, insisting they were “too young to understand” what they were doing.
The 19-year-old’s body was found in Inverness, 11 days after she went missing from New Craigs psychiatric hospital in November.
Taking to Facebook yesterday, Samantha appeared to direct the post to her daughter’s bullies directly saying “you know who you are.”
She said: “Although she fought hard and valiantly to overcome the damage that you caused, in the end she lost her fight, just when she seemed to be finally turning a corner.
“She never got a chance to do her exams at Millburn because she was too terrified to go to school.
“That meant no college, so no qualifications, so she was forced to do unskilled low paid jobs.
“As a result of her sensitive gentle nature, she found it hard to recover from the bullying and abuse that you inflicted on her.”
Surprisingly, Samantha then outlined she does not resent her daughter’s tormentors.
She added: “I forgive you, Because you were only young when you inflicted this damage, too young to understand what you were doing.
“I know that you will always have the guilt of knowing that you were a contributing factor in our precious Jade’s early demise, and that is punishment enough.”
Following this Samantha then said instead of blaming Jade’s bullies, she wanted them to “honour her and her memory.”
She said: “I want you to always make the time in your life to help the people that you go to college or uni with, or work with, people like Jade.
“Gentle, sensitive, quirky people who have trouble fitting in, or try too hard to fit in because they don’t think they are good enough just as they are.
“Go out of you way to include them, give them compliments, boost their self confidence and self esteem. Be kind to them and support them.
“And when you become parents yourselves, please, please teach your kids to be kind to their classmates.
“Explain to them that some people take things to heart more than they should, so it’s important to be gentle, kind, and inclusive.
Samantha said instead of blaming Jade’s bullies, she wanted them to “honour her and her memory.”
Finally, Samantha outlined how she is still suffering from her daughter’s death.
She said: “To see her crumble, slowly, (with plenty of peaks and troughs) over the last 6 years of her life has broken our hearts, permanently.
“I am writing this post as a small step towards ensuring that Jades life was not in vain. It’s all I have the energy to do at this point, just 3 months after the BPD took her from us.”
Her post attracted more than 3,000 shares and over a hundred comments from Facebook users.
Natasha Taylor said: “Think of yous often Sam. Sending our love.”
Mags Clark commented: “Sam you are one very special lady and I’m proud to call you my friend.”
Lindsay Coleman said: “An amazing bit of writing Sam. I hope it helps to stop any further bullying in our schools. You are being incredibly strong.”
A massive search operation was launched in the Inverness following Jade’s disappearance on November 28.
However, her body was found hidden among bushes and trees, close to Kinmylies Building, which was once a children’s home.
