The head of the task force tackling suicide in south Wales has denied the area is a suicide black spot - but then admitted that local data on the problem only goes up to 2003.

Dr Tegwyn Williams, a consultant psychiatrist, said today he did not think the Bridgend and Neath Port Talbot county boroughs have a particular problem, despite the suspected suicides of 13 young people in the past year.

However, he admitted that the task force only had data up to the year 2003 to work on. That will come as little comfort to those who have expressed concern that virtual "memorials" on social networking websites, such as Bebo, which were virtually unheard of five years ago, are effectively glamourising death among suicidal teens.

He was speaking after a meeting of various local agencies was called this afternoon to discuss the problem.

The meeting, which had been planned for a number of weeks, was initiated by Bridgend MP Madeleine Moon. She is understood to have raised the issue of social networking websites which some believe could be "romanticising" suicide.

Dr Williams said: "I’m not convinced there is a particular problem in Bridgend. Suicides happen everywhere in all places and in all age groups.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t do something about what is happening here in Bridgend. I think the difficulty with suicide is that each individual case is different.

“In more cases there can be bereavement and in some cases relationship difficulties and in some cases drugs and alcohol and in each individual case there is a different constellation.”

Despite the recent series of suicides in Bridgend, the Office of National Statistics released new figures today which showed that suicide rates have steadily decreased among both men and women in England and Wales from 1991 to 2006.

Earlier this week it emerged that 13 young people - seven of whom knew each other - are suspected to have committed suicide in the Bridgend county in the past 12 months.

Natasha Randall, 17, was found hanging at her home in Blaengarw last Thursday. The following evening her 15-year-old friend Leah Phillips from nearby Pontycymmer was resuscitated after being found hanging by her stepfather David.

Police investigating Natasha’s death said there was no evidence to link it to the others, but admitted they were “concerned”.

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