JEERING onlookers goaded a gay teenager in Britain to jump to his death, undermining police efforts to talk him down, and then took pictures of the body.

Yesterday as 17-year-old Shaun Dykes prepared to jump from the top of a multi-storey carpark in Derby, northern England, spectators allegedly shouted to him: "How far can you bounce?",  the UK's MailOnline reports.

As Dykes hesitated for three hours on the ledge while police unsuccessfully tried to reason him out of taking his life, teenagers who had gathered below shouted "Jump" and "Get on with it", according to police and witnesses.

Then after Dykes lay in a crumpled heap on the pavement the same hecklers rushed out from behind the police cordon to take photos of the body.

"When he (Dykes) fell, lots of people were screaming and crying but there were several groups of youths who ran from behind the cordon and looked like they were taking pictures with their mobile phones,"  a local shopkeeper was quoted as telling the MailOnline.

"I found that sickening - why would anyone want to take pictures of something like that?"

Dykes was believed to have been suffering from depression and struggling to overcome a relationship breakdown.

Superintendent Andy Hough, of Derbyshire police, said he was disappointed and disturbed by the people heard encouraging Dykes to jump.

"I find it a disturbing and shocking reflection on society when people feel inclined to do that," Supt Hough told the MailOnline.

"Negotiators were working with the man threatening to jump and it was their job to talk to him in the hope of changing his mind.

"We really need the public to work with us, not against us. It was a very disappointing situation."

Tags: gay teen, Shaun Dykes, suicide