WHEN Georgia Edwards’ brother took his own life two years ago she struggled to talk about it.

Now she will be running the Southampton marathon in his memory to raise awareness and money for suicide charity PAPYRUS.

Joseph Edwards did not suffer from depression or mental health issues at the time of his death.

But after receiving a fake “police” email which tried to bribe him by claiming he had been looking at illegal websites and had to pay £100 or face being prosecuted, the 17-year-old, who was on the autistic spectrum, took his own life.

Before his death, Joseph was an A-grade student and was described by his sister as a “gentle giant” because he was more than 6ft tall.

It was determined after his death that because of his autism he was more susceptible to believing the scam was genuine.

When investigating, the police said it was difficult to trace those responsible but that they believed it to have originated abroad.

After seeing the work that PAPRUS do to remove the stigma of suicide, Georgia felt inspired to raise money for the charity.

“Growing up in a single parent family meant that me and my brother were really close.

“I have always wanted to do something worthwhile in his memory and I love a challenge, so I decided to sign up in November.

“It has motivated me knowing I am doing it for him as well as raising awareness and money for the charity,” said the 22-year-old.

Georgia’s mother Jacqueline has campaigned against scam emails and has appeared on BBC Crimewatch as well as other media outlets to highlight the dangers.

“When it first happened I wasn’t able to talk about it, but now I want to raise as much awareness as possible,” said Georgia who lives in Fair Oak.

After Joseph’s death in the family home in Windsor, Georgia and her mother relocated to Eastleigh.

Since then, Georgia has joined Itchen Imperial Rowing Club in Southampton.

In preparation for the marathon Georgia has trained by doing a combination of rowing and running.

“I wanted to join a rowing club to meet new people.

“It’s a friendly club with lovely members who are more than willing to help out, they have all been a great support in training and helped give a lot of advice about training and more about the local area,” she said.

The law graduate has been doing six days a week training since November.

Originally, Georgia set a target £1,000 but after hitting it months before the event, she has now increased it to £1,250.

In 2015 there were 6,188 deaths from suicide in the United Kingdom, one in 10 of these deaths were by those who were aged 15-24.

Only 14 per cent of people who commit suicide aged under 20 have been in prior contact with specialist mental health services.

PAPYRUS Prevention of Young Suicide work to give young people hope and prevent suicides.

The charity give confidential support and advice to young people, train professionals and work to develop national policy.

“This is my first marathon, if all goes well I hope to run another.

“I think I might catch the running bug, I have already signed up to my next one in October – the Great South Run in Portsmouth, which is 10 miles,” said Georgia.

The marathon will be the biggest running event in Southampton’s history.

The Southampton ABP marathon is set to bring 10,000 runners and up to 30,000 spectators to the city.

“The marathon is going to be really tough because you have to run the 10k route twice, which will be a mental challenge as much as a physical one,” said Georgia.

It will begin at Palmerston Park at 9am.

Runners will also take on three of the city’s bridges: Cobden, Northam and Itchen Bridge.

Georgia will be accompanied by her mother for the race on Sunday, who will be cheering her on from the sidelines.

“I feel really special that I will be able to do this and I think Joseph would be really proud of me,” said the correspondence co-ordinator at Simplehealth professionals.