Editing Beachy Head (section)

==Suicides==
[[File:Beachy Head suicide phone.jpg|thumb|upright=1.1|Phone box and sign advertising the [[Samaritans (charity)|Samaritans]] at Beachy Head.]]
Estimates of the number of annual deaths at Beachy Head vary from 20 a year to many more.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/sussex/8078490.stm|title=Suicide jump child 'already dead' |date=2 June 2009|work=BBC News Online|publisher=BBC|access-date=2 June 2009}}</ref> In 2010, it was the third most common [[suicide]] spot in the world, after the [[Golden Gate Bridge]] in San Francisco and the [[Aokigahara]] Woods in Japan, according to ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]''.<ref name="Meaney">{{cite news | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB114504929764426405?mod=googlewsj | title = Exiting Early | access-date = 16 November 2010 | work=The Wall Street Journal | first=Thomas | last=Meaney | date=15 April 2006}}</ref>

The Beachy Head Chaplaincy Team conducts regular day and evening patrols of the area in attempts to locate and stop potential cliff [[Jumper (suicide)|jumpers]]. Workers at the pub and taxi drivers are also on the lookout for people contemplating suicide and there are signs with the telephone number of the [[Samaritans (charity)|Samaritans]] urging potential jumpers to call them.<ref name=Leitch/>

Deaths at the site are often covered by the media,<ref name=Surtees/> and Ross Hardy, the founder of the chaplaincy team, has said that this encourages suicidal people to choose the site.<ref name=Leitch>Leitch, Luke. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/mental_health/article6418373.ece "Beachy Head: no ordinary beauty spot"]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. ''The Times''. 3 June 2009. Accessed 10 August 2011.</ref> [[Eastbourne Borough Council]] drew media coverage in 2018 for its policy of removing shrines and crosses left at Beachy Head by families of suicide victims.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/05/23/council-bans-families-suicide-victims-leaving-shrines-beachy/|title=Council bans families of suicide victims from leaving shrines at Beachy Head|newspaper=The Telegraph|date=23 May 2018}}</ref>

The earliest reports of deaths by suicide at Beachy Head come from the 7th century. Between 1965 and 1979, there were 124 deaths at the location. Of these, S. J. Surtees wrote that 115 of them were "almost certainly" suicides (although a [[coroner]]'s verdict of suicide was recorded in only 58 cases), and that 61 percent of the victims were from outside East Sussex.<ref name=Surtees>Surtees, S. J. [http://www.bmj.com/content/284/6312/321.abstract "Suicide and accidental death at Beachy Head."] {{subscription required}}. ''[[British Medical Journal]]'' '''284''' (6312): 321–324. 30 January 1982.</ref> After a steady increase in deaths between 2002 and 2005, there were only seven fatalities in 2006, a marked decrease.<ref name="numbers down">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/southern_counties/6196661.stm|title=Beachy Head suicide numbers down |date=20 December 2006|work=BBC News Online|publisher=BBC|access-date=2 June 2009}}</ref> The [[Maritime and Coastguard Agency]], whose Coastguard Rescue Teams are responsible for the rescue of injured jumpers and the recovery of the dead, attributed the reduction to the work of the Chaplaincy Team and good coverage of services by the local media.<ref name="numbers down"/><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-newsroom/mcga-press-releases.htm?id=2BC6351816ACF22F&m=12&y=2006 |title=Beachy Head Press Release |work=MCA Press Release |publisher=UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency |access-date=2 June 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927003236/http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mcga-newsroom/mcga-press-releases.htm?id=2BC6351816ACF22F&m=12&y=2006 |archive-date=27 September 2007  }}</ref> At least 26 people died at the site in 2008.<ref>Smyth, Chris. [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article6405936.ece "Man, woman and child found at foot of Beachy Head"]{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}. ''The Times''. 2 June 2009. Accessed 10 August 2011.</ref>