Computer clues in 'suicide pact'

Laura (left) and Rebecca met via an internet chatroom

Computer experts are being brought in to help police work out why two schoolgirls apparently entered into a suicide pact.

Laura Rhodes, 13, from Neath, south Wales, died from a suspected drug overdose on Saturday.

Her best friend, Rebecca Ling, 14, from Longbridge, Birmingham, is recovering at Morriston Hospital, Swansea.

The girls - who met in an internet chat room - were found seriously ill at Laura's home when Rebecca raised the alarm.

They left a note saying they did not want to be parted.

Last week, the girls sparked a police hunt by running away together after a holiday in Greece.

They were found on Friday and taken back to Laura's house in Heol Derwen, Cimla.

Both girls were taken to hospital, but Laura could not be saved.

Police said her death was not being treated as suspicious. A note declaring the friends' plan to kill themselves was found.

Detectives now believe the girls' home computers may hold clues about their friendship.

Police have been examining the house

Experts have been brought in to give police access to their e-mails and chatroom messages.

Although living 130 miles apart, the two formed a friendship last year and began using MSN Messenger and mobile phone texts to keep in daily contact.

Rebecca's mother, Alison Ling, and her father David have been keeping vigil at their daughter's bedside.

Mrs Ling's partner Neil Fisher said Rebecca had begun to tell her mother what happened.

"She's looking good at the moment," he told Radio Wales. "She's not getting any worse. She's speaking to her mum and, hopefully, she'll be home on Monday."

Mr Fisher said that the girls had left a note in Laura's bedroom.

"The note said they were going to kill themselves," he said.

"We do not know why they took the tablets - that's why the police are talking to Alison now.

"Becca says she went into Laura's mum and told her what had happened, and Laura was passed out on the floor - and then Becca passed out. That's all we know."

The girls holidayed in Crete with Laura's parents Michael and Yvonne, and Rebecca had been due to travel home on Wednesday.

But the alarm was later raised when the girls disappeared.

After they were found, Rebecca spent the night at Laura's and was to have returned home on Saturday.

But around 0400 BST the girls were found seriously ill in Laura's bedroom.

"Laura's mother found them in the bedroom with tablets at the side of them," Mr Fisher said. "We are just stunned because we thought Rebecca would be coming home today safe and well. I just don't know why they would want to do this."

"There was relief that the police had found them but this now has broken all our hearts," he added.

He said Laura had visited in the past and was a friendly, out-going girl.

"She was like a daughter to us," he said. "I broke down in tears when I found out Laura went, but there's nothing we can do. I just feel sorry for her parents.

"Our heart goes out to her family."

Laura's junior school headteacher, Hilary Hipkin, described her as "a nice, hard-working pupil".

And, she added : "She was a bright girl who had a close group of friends."