DARLINGTON is a friendly town. A good town. A caring town. But there were disturbing scenes today when a vulnerable young man appeared on a fourth-storey hotel window ledge.

A large crowd gathered to watch as police cordoned off the town centre and negotiators spent two hours trying to talk the 21-year-old down to safety.

It led to inconvenience for retailers, shoppers, bus companies and motorists but a young man’s life was at stake.

Nevertheless, mobile phone cameras were trained on the man and some shocking things were shouted from the crowd. They included suggestions that he was an attention-seeker, that he was wasting tax-payers’ money and that he should jump.

It has to be stressed that those comments came from the minority and most of those gathered were, no doubt, hoping for a happy ending.

It was, however, an ugly episode, which underlined the ignorance which exists about mental health.

So soon after the death of much-loved actor Robin Williams came as a reminder of how tragic mental illness can be, here we had a young man’s obvious torment being trivialised.

It is true that The Northern Echo reported the incident, with pictures and video, on its website. But the focus was on the general scene – not on the young man, whose identity should be protected.

Mental illness should never be underestimated and those who baited a distressed young man in Darlington town centre today should be ashamed of themselves.

Tonight, his mental health is being assessed at a local hospital. We trust he gets all the support he needs and our thoughts are with him.