A grieving mum is distraught after finding sick trolls have used pictures of her dead son for fake dating profiles.
Samantha Redding was horrified to discover images of her late son Scott Martin, who died four months ago aged just 16, are being used on Tinder and Bumble.
The 41-year-old, from Falkirk, said she was first made aware of the profiles when screenshots were sent to her eldest son and sister, reports the Daily Record.
Amateur boxer Scott took his own life on New Year's Day, with his mum setting up The Scott Martin Foundation in a bid to help young people struggling with mental health issues.
Two separate accounts have appeared on Tinder under the ID 'Thomas, 18, professional boxer' and another on Bumble lists Scott as 'Harry, 18, from Dunblane'.
Both accounts use Scott's boxing picture from his days at Sparta Boxing Club in Falkirk.
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Fighting back tears, Samantha said: "It's disgusting. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It felt like someone had punched me in the gut. That is one of my favourite pictures of Scott and to see it used for some sicko's idea of a joke, or whatever it is, is absolutely devastating."
Samantha has since contacted both sites to have the profiles removed.
Apprentice joiner Scott was found dead in Camelon Cemetery in Falkirk on the morning of January 1, 2021.
He had been at a friend's house to celebrate Hogmanay and following the party, was supposed to be heading straight to his dad David Martin's home to spend New Year's Day with him.
Tragically, the teen never arrived and was found dead the following morning in the graveyard by a couple who were walking their dog.
Samantha said: "His friends left him at one end of the cemetery and it was a 15 minute walk from there to his dad's house, but he never made it. Somewhere on that walk home he made the decision to take his own life."
Samantha says that although she knew her middle son was struggling with mental health issues, he had been 'getting better' in the weeks before his death so the news of his suicide was a gut-wrenching blow.
She told the Record: "He called me bang on midnight and wished me a Happy New Year. I asked him if he was ok and he said he was.
"He ended the call and said 'I love you mum' which took me aback a wee bit because it wasn't something that was easy to get out of teenage boys. I just put it down to the fact he'd had a couple of drinks."
The next day she called Scott about 11am but he didn't answer so she assumed he was still in bed at his dad's.
But a couple of hours later police knocked on her door and told her what had happened.
"The pain I felt was like nothing I can describe," she said.
Samantha said Scott was a happy child but suffered major childhood trauma when he was diagnosed with bladder cancer at the age of 12 and spent weeks in Glasgow's Royal Hospital for Sick Children in 2016.
Samantha says, despite later getting the all-clear, his behaviour changed dramatically following the treatment and he went from being a happy, laid back child, to a teenager who suffered from mood swings and emotional outbursts.
Terrified for her son's wellbeing, Samantha reached out to Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and pleaded for help.
But despite some support, Samantha later discovered her son was self-harming and before his eventual death, he had attempted suicide three times.
Samantha said setting up the foundation has given her a focus.
A spokesperson for Tinder said: "First and foremost our thoughts are with Scott Martin’s loved ones. We have a zero tolerance policy for this type of behaviour and in this case the violating profile has been removed.
"Our team uses a network of industry-leading systems to prevent, monitor and remove inappropriate behaviour and suspicious profiles flagged through this technology as well as member generated reports."
A spokeswoman for Bumble confirmed that the profile using Scott's image has now been deleted from their site.
