Dinal De Alwis, a 16-year-old Sinhalese student, has ended it all after allegedly being blackmailed with his private photos by yahoo boys from Nigeria.
DailyMail reports that Alwis had just started sixth form when he was contacted by someone on social media app Snapchat, apparently from Nigeria.
Dinal was sent two photos of himself – and told they would be sent to “all his online followers” unless he paid £100, the hearing was told.
The student left his family home, near Croydon, south London, and recorded a brief video saying he planned to end it all.
According to his dad, Kaushallya De Alwis, “He messaged my wife and I to say he loved us, and he told his two brothers that he loves them, and said they need to ‘look after mum and dad’.”
Police and the National Crime Agency admitted to Dinal’s parents that they were unable to trace the blackmailer – but said that he appeared to have been operating from Nigeria.
South London Coroner’s Court heard that the blackmailer – who is also thought to have had other victims wrote: “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?”
Dinal, who had begun studying for the International Baccalaureate in sixth form and was top of the school in English and economics, had desires to attend University of Cambridge to read economics. However, the contact with the blackmailer happened in October 2022, weeks into Dinal’s sixth form programme.
