16-year-old British Boy Kills Himself After Being Blackmailed

Dinal De Alwis

A 16-year-old Sinhala student named Dinal De Alwis has reportedly ended everything after yahoo boys from Nigeria used his personal images as a form of blackmail.

Alwis had just begun sixth form when he received a message on the Snapchat social media app from someone who appeared to be from Nigeria.

Dinal received two pictures of himself and was informed at the hearing that they would be shared with “all his online followers” unless he paid £100.

The student left his south London home near Croydon and made a short video announcing his intention 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 excelled in economics and English and started preparing for the International Baccalaureate in sixth form, wanted to study economics at the University of Cambridge. However, Dinal's sixth form program began a few weeks prior to October 2022, when he made contact with the blackmailer.

Dinal, an enthusiastic rugby player, replied that he had assumed the pictures had already been distributed after being blackmailed. At two in the morning, the boy sneaked out of the house and took a quick video of himself strolling down a suburban street. His body turned up a little over an hour later.

Mr. De Alwis told the coroner while in tears, “Dinal was the most caring son. He was bright. He got straight As in all of his subjects at GCSEs and was top of the school for English and economics.

“We come from Sri Lanka, so we were so proud to hear he was so good at English. He was brave. He played for the football and rugby teams at Whitgift School. He never asked for anything from us. He was always happy with what he had. His loss is the biggest possible loss. It is so incredibly painful. The fact that he ended his life in this way... the world is so crvel.

“He didn't show any sort of unhappiness. I think he wanted to avoid any shame from the images going public. I wish he had spoken to us.”