Grieving mum of girl, 13, killed in horror lorry crash forced to close award-winning road safety campaign after bullying by online trolls
The bereft mother says she often received nasty phone calls in the middle of the night and was being abused on social media by trolls who said she was attention seeking
THE grieving mum of a teenager who was killed by a lorry has been forced to close her road safety campaign page after being BULLIED by online trolls.
Tragic 13-year-old Hope Fennell died when she was mowed down by an 18-tonne truck as she cycled across a pedestrian crossing in November 2011.
Lorry driver Darren Foster, 42, was jailed for just six months after he admitted dangerous driving two years later.
Following the devastating accident, Hope's heartbroken mother Nazan Fennell set up the "Live In Hope" campaign in honour of her daughter.
The mum-of-three even won a Guardian Angel Award from the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) last year for her tireless road safety efforts.
But today the 49-year-old announced she was ending the campaign after receiving almost daily abuse from online trolls.
She said: "I am exhausted with the pressures of aggressive trolls. If I react they turn things against me.
"These people have attacked my Facebook page and Twitter accounts. They have called me an "attention seeking c***" and accused me of being a "money-grabber".
"The fact is I have not earned a penny in four years of doing this campaign, which I do in my daughter's memory.
"I am very proud of the work I have done and what I have achieved but I am tired of the haters."
Nazan said she has also received repeated malicious phone calls from people at all times of the day and night.
She added: "When I was campaigning to stop HGVs travelling up the high street I got one call from somebody who told me 'why are you doing this? It won't bring your f*cking daughter back.'
"I have called the police twice about these trolls but the culprits are never caught. I hate to admit it but the haters have beaten me.
"I need time away from all this. I am packing in the campaign because of this and it breaks my heart to do so.
"But I am proud of what the campaign has achieved."
The Live In Hope campaign had been praised for making a difference both locally and nationally for restricting access for lorries on "unsuitable roads".
It also helped increase the number of safer cycle routes and Nazan was instrumental in helping RoSPA deliver last year's Family Safety Week.
Tragic Hope was crushed under the wheels of the HGV as she rode her bicycle across a crossing on a busy high street in Kings Heath, Birmingham, on November 7, 2011.
Lorry driver Foster, from Derby, had been texting his girlfriend shortly before hitting the schoolgirl and even deleted messages as she lay dying in the road.
Nazan had to give up her job as a substance misuse support worker after the death of her daughter and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Last year she told how heartless landlords were evicting her from the house where she had set up a shrine to Hope.
Nazan left her daughter's bedroom untouched with her clothes, shoes and personal belongings remaining just as she left them on the day she was killed.
But the mum was given just one month's notice to leave her three-bedroom semi-detached home in Kings Heath in July last year.
On one occasion, bailiffs assisted by police even broke into the property over an unpaid £2,000 bill.
Speaking at the time Nazan said: "My daughter was my world and when she died I just broke down. The grief was unbearable.
"I worked helping people who had problems with drugs misuse. Now it is me that is in that position needing help but feeling no-one is supporting me.
"I haven't touched Hope's bedroom since the accident. I know it is four years on but I just don't feel ready yet.
"It is not a normal bereavement. It is the loss of a child. I don't think anybody should be treated like this."