A 16-year-old boy with Sri Lankan roots, described by his parents as a “golden boy” took his own life in the UK after being blackmailed over nude photographs, an inquest heard.
Dinal De Alwis, 16, was found by a coroner to have killed himself in Sutton, south London, in October 2022.
A Metropolitan police investigation found that in the hours before his death, Dinal, who had recently attended an open day at Cambridge, where he had wanted to study economics, had received iMessages from a man who was threatening to send two nude images to “all of his followers” if he did not send him money.
The man was using a virtual private network (VPN) to mask his location, but detectives believe he was “probably based in Nigeria”, it was reported.
The suspect said: “So you think blocking me can stop me? What do you want me to do – you want me to send to all of your followers? Why can’t you just pay me? £100?”
South London coroner’s court heard that Dinal’s mother, father and two brothers had received “goodbye” messages from the 16-year-old in the early hours of 27 October 2022.
His father, Kaushallya De Alwis, who attended the inquest, said: “He messaged my wife and I to say he loved us, and he told his brothers that he loves them, and said they need to ‘look after Mum and Dad’.”
De Alwis said the family, who live in Wallington, near Sutton, reported Dinal as missing to the police, telling officers they had discovered that Dinal had plans to attempt to take his own life after logging into his Snapchat.
“Dinal was the most caring son,” said a tearful De Alwis. “He was bright. He got straight A*s in all of his subjects at GCSEs and was top of the school for English and Economics.
“We …read more
Source:: Colombo Gazette