A dark-looking beast floats along the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales before dunking its head under the water before popping up again
THIS Morning viewers praised the "brave" mum of a teenage boy who commit suicide after suffering years of bullying online, with many demanding that his bullies be prosecuted.
Lucy Alexander penned a letter to help raise awareness of online bullying and the tragic consequences it can have.
Her 17-year-old son Felix Alexander jumped in front of a train after being subjected to torment online.
At the beginning of the segment, she read out the heartbreaking words she had written.
"On April 27 2016 our beautiful 17-year-old son took his own life.
"He decided to do this because he couldn't see a way to be happy. People who had never even met Felix were abusing him on social media and he found that he was unable to make and keep friends as it was difficult to befriend the most hated hated boy in school.
"I write this letter not for sympathy but because there are so many children like Felix who are struggling and we need to wake up to the cruel world we're living in. I'm appealing to children to be kind always, never to stand by and leave bullying unreported.
"Be that one person to stand up to kindness - you'll never regret being a good friend. Our lives have been irrevocably damaged by the loss of our wonderful son. Please don't let it happen to any other family."
When asked by Holly Willoughby what her son had been like when he was younger she replied that he was "known for his smile, his massive smile - with more teeth than most children should have".
She continued: "He was funny, he was active and very loving - very bright, a very bright boy. My brother's a teacher and he always said that he thought he was quite gifted. He was very sharp and had a good memory."
The online bullying began in 2009 when Felix was just 10.
Holly asked whether there was anything that tipped her off and she said it was just "little incidences of unkindness" that she noticed: "It was more exclusion than anything else."
She said that she thought it would settle when he went to senior school but instead she said it "started to escalate and become more and more".
Phillip and Holly mentioned that he was such a good looking boy but his mum said: "He never saw that, he only ever smiled for family pictures... he said, 'oh, I'm really ugly when I smile' - he never saw it."
When asked whether he was sensitive to the bullying she said that he may well have been: "Because he reacted to it, he couldn't dismiss it. He would come home and be sad... it was only when he came home that he would cry."
She added that no one noticed because he kept a "fixed grin", adding that he was the "class clown and he got into trouble".
"It just became progressively worse," she explained.
Lucy said that her son's self-esteem and confidence was "eroded on a daily basis": "He was called a name by somebody every day... his social life was his family. As a teenager you like your family but you don't want to spend all your time with them."
She also tragically revealed that as soon as he made a friend outside school it wouldn't be long before they got a text or Facebook message asking why they wanted to be friends with him for.
His mum said that he became known as the "most hated boy in school".
Lucy revealed that she and her son had been "very close" and that they had "talked a lot". She said that a friend of hers who was a psychotherapist had told her when he was 14 to "get him some help".
She said: "He admitted and said 'I can't do this'. And so he saw a psychotherapist for about a year and she did give him some coping strategies... but he said he wouldn't change schools because it was social media and it would go with him wherever."
In the last two years she said that he shared less with her so wasn't as aware that it was still going on.
Lucy tragically called him "damaged" and even though he went to a new school the people were really nice but he "didn't know how to have a friendship because he had never had one".
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When she talked about the day her son took his own life, tears welled up in her eyes and said that the school had called and said that somebody had seen him getting off a bus in a local village. She thought he'd gone to speak with a friend because he'd been upset so they went to look for him.
She shook her head and said that there was no indication that he'd throw himself in front of a train.
Struggling to hold back a sob, Lucy revealed that they'd talked about the subject of suicide before: "He'd said 'No mum, I won't do that because I'm not brave enough'."
Asked whether she thought she could have done anything to prevent his suicide, she said: "Felix was very resistant to changes... he dug his heels in."
Lucy said that she'd written the letter after the words were "circulating" in her head and wanted to raise awareness.
She added that people just need to "learn to be kind".
His mum said that the bullies "didn't think they knew what they were doing" and they just got "carried away": "Things turn into a hate fest very quickly".
She has raised £14,500 towards raising awareness and finished by saying: "It's a steep learning curve and we're way behind."
Viewers were brought to tears by the story but were quick to praise the mum for her bravery in talking about the difficult subject.
One wrote on Twitter: "Actually breaking me #ThisMorning i take my hat off to this woman. Imagine going through that as a mother.."
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Another tweeted: "Such a brave lady. Young people really need to think before they speak. Everyone's life is different so always be kind #ThisMorning".
A Twitter user commented: "This poor lady, bringing tears to my eyes..! Children are so nasty these days, i can't stand bullies... #ThisMorning".
Others demanded for his bullies to be prosecuted.
One Twitter user wrote: "Bullies should be proscutes especially when the victims commits suicide. The bullies caused that death, its enabling murder."
Another commented: "it's time to prosecute online bullies however old they are Heartbroken for this mother."
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