A BEAUTY queen who suffered untold misery at the hands of cyber bullies has hit out at an abusive Facebook page that branded individual women in her home village as “ugly.”

The page appeared on the social networking website earlier this month but was taken down last week following complaints.

It is said to have included names and photographs of women from the former mining village in County Durham and there are reports of other Facebook users leaving abusive comments.

For Miss United Kingdom Tourism 2011, Kelly Waite, news of the offensive page brought back painful memories of her own experience of cyber bullying.

Her initial joy at winning several prestigious pageants in 2010 and 2011 was shattered when she discovered that a number of Facebook pages had been set up to abuse her.

And what made the situation worse was that she suspected many of the comments were from people in the village.

“It was a terrible time and I didn’t know who to trust,” she said.

“I know what these women are going through. It is not only hurtful, it is humiliating. When you live in a small village, everyone knows everyone else’s business.”

Trimdon and Thornley county councillor Lucy Hovvells shares Miss Waite's disgust.

“I cannot understand how anyone could do such a thing,” she said. “To target women in this way is unacceptable.

“It is cyber bullying and the hurt caused by these remarks could have a long term effect on these women and their mental health.”

It has not been confirmed whether the page was taken down by its owner or by Facebook for violating its Statement of Rights and Responsibilities.

Facebook does not comment on individual cases but a spokesperson said that profiles, pages, photos or groups can be removed from the site for many reasons, including the use of a false identity, bullying and harassment.

Users are encouraged to use the tools provided on the site to report any objectionable content they encounter.