Computer attack

Most of the time chatting on the net is fun and harmless. But Clemy, 14, learned the hard way about the importance of online safety. She emailed us her story...

I joined an internet chat room when I was 12. My parents said it was fine as long as I gave out none of my personal details apart from my name. So I stuck to my parents rules and never told anybody anything personal.

But then I met this amazing guy and all the rules went out the window. He said he was 14 and that he lived in Blackpool. I believed him and we became really good friends. We chatted every night and texted each other twice a day. I never thought anything of it. I just saw him as a really good friend.

A different side

Things began to change. He stopped wanting to talk about fun stuff and every message became more and more personal. I didn't notice at the time but I was telling him a lot of stuff that I shouldn't have.

He sent messages like 'Where exactly do you live?', 'What school do you go to?' 'What is your full name?' I naively answered all his questions.

“every message became more and more personal ”

Strange disappearance

He disappeared and I didn't hear anything from him for four weeks. I was a bit disappointed but assumed he must have got bored. I put it to the back of my mind.

Locked out and vulnerable

It was a sunny afternoon and I had got home from school early so my brothers weren't home yet. I'd forgotten my keys, so I sat on the grass and started doodling in my school books.

It felt like I'd been sitting there for hours but it had only been 15 minutes until a shadow appeared behind me. I thought it was one of my brothers so I turned round, but to my surprise it was a man.

Attacked

He asked me if my name was Clemency. Because I had no idea who he was I just said yes. All he replied was "good" before he grabbed my arms and pulled them round the back of me. He then took a knife from his pocket and held it up to my neck.

I was so scared I screamed but nobody was around at the time. He told me not to scream, so I screamed more and more. I didn't know what to do, his knife was right against my neck.

Suddenly my brothers all came charging up behind the man and attacked him until he let me go. But as he dropped me the knife slid right down the back of my left arm and my head hit the ground with a loud crack. The last thing I heard was my brothers screaming "CLEMY!"

Lucky escape

When I awoke in hospital I saw my mum crying at the end of the bed. When she realised I was awake she leapt up and hugged me, this time crying with happiness.

The doctor told me I had cracked my head and had to have stitches. I also still have a long faint scar all the way down the back of my left arm.

People tell me how lucky I was to escape alive and how lucky I am to have my brothers. Sometimes I think without them I could have died.

I wanted to share my story to warn people of the dangers of giving your personal information to people online. I didn't think it could happen to me but I was wrong. People need to be more careful.