Dad's suicide after Facebook slur

THE family of a man found hanged in a cemetery say he was driven to suicide by slurs on social networking site Facebook.

Steven Rudderham, 48, was traumatised when his name, address and photograph were published online, along with a message calling him a "dirty perv", claiming he was a paedophile. Within 15 minutes, the message had been shared hundreds of times and he began receiving death threats on Facebook.

An inquest in Hull heard he was found hanged in Hessle cemetery three days later.

As Humberside Police considers an investigation to track down the culprits, Mr Rudderham's daughter Bethany Beaumont said: "They've destroyed an innocent life for no reason. It was disgusting. It was slander."

His mother Carol Matthews said: "I want to know why someone did something like that. I hope they rot in hell. It took a person's life. We will never get over it."

An inquest yesterday heard Mr Rudderham was a bricklayer and was working towards examinations as a building site manager before the internet accusations.

He normally saw Bethany, 19, every day and she realised immediately the profound effect the paedophile accusations had on him.

She said: "He just couldn't believe it. He was just looking at the wall and he wouldn't eat. It was like someone had ripped his life apart."

Mr Rudderham was afraid of walking the streets in case he was spotted and decided to stay with his daughter to prevent him being targeted at his home close to Hull Marina.

Bethany told the inquest even people who had known her father for years joined in the cyber bullying.

"There were people who had known him for years commenting on it," she said. "He was so upset. I had never seen him like that.

"He stayed at my house that night because of what the comments were saying, about people coming to his house and smashing it up."

Mr Rudderham discussed giving police a memory stick with evidence about the accusations on it but it did not happen before his death.

On Saturday, January 26, his body by a member of the public.

Police were called at about 2pm but Mr Rudderham was pronounced dead at the scene. A memory stick was recovered from Mr Rudderham's body and police have also seized a computer hard drive.

Mr Rudderham's mother was told of her son's death on her birthday and puts the blame solely on her son's Facebook accusers.

"I went berserk when I found out what had happened," she said.

"He didn't want to stay in his house because he was frightened."

Mr Rudderham's family say he served time in HMP Hull in 2010 for fighting but had no convictions for sex offences.

Dr Latifu Sanni was also told about the paedophile accusations made against Mr Rudderham before he carried out the post mortem.

The inquest heard there had been no evidence of medical depression in the months before his death. No drugs and no significant amounts of alcohol were found by a post mortem.

The inquest was attended by Mr Rudderham's family, including his mother and stepfather David Matthews, his sister Lisa Elm and daughters Bethany, Anna and Danielle Beaumont.

Recording a verdict of suicide, Coroner Paul Marks said: "The medical cause of death was hanging.

"He was actively pursuing a qualification to improve his status and job prospects. In the last few days of his life, he received a pejorative message on a social networking site which greatly troubled him."

Police have confirmed they are considering an investigation into the Facebook posts in the days leading up to Mr Rudderham's death.