The mother of Caroline Flack has hit out at social media companies who “fail to protect” people against online abuse.

The former Love Island presenter tragically took her own life in February last year at just 40 years of age.

A new Channel 4 documentary is to tell the story of her life and death, as well as her experience of having issues with her mental health.

In the documentary, Christine Flack, Caroline’s mother explains how abuse on social media platforms had a big impact on her daughter.

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Speaking ahead of its release, Christine Flack said social media companies “fail to protect anybody”.

She said: “When I was young, if you were bullied at school you could get away from it.

“You can’t get away from it now because it follows you home, it follows you on your phone.

“Carrie was the worst one, she would look at her phone all the time. It took her over, what was being said on there.

“There could be 30 nice things said, one bad thing said, and that was it.”

Bucks Free Press: Criticism on social media ‘took over’ Caroline Flack, her mother says(Ian West/PA)Criticism on social media ‘took over’ Caroline Flack, her mother says(Ian West/PA)

Christine called on social media companies to do more to tackle online abuse.

She added: “They are making so much money, it is not that there’s a lack of money of profits will suffer.

“Someone’s got to take a responsibility somewhere for it.”

Caroline Flack: Her Life And Death will be broadcast on Wednesday on Channel 4 at 9pm and Christine described Charlie Russell, the director of the programme as a “therapist”.

“He’s made this year bearable because it was someone we could talk to that wasn’t another member of the family,” she said.

“There was no other side, we could just say what we liked and we did find the making of this good.”

Bucks Free Press: Caroline Flack (Channel 4/Family Handout/Flack Family)Caroline Flack (Channel 4/Family Handout/Flack Family)

The documentary, which features interviews from friends of Flack including Olly Murs and Dermot O’Leary who pay tribute to their friend.

It will also feature Caroline’s twin sister, Jody, who explains how she often tried to talk her sister into a life away from the public eye.

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“Carrie was never going to have an easy life,” she said.

“She wasn’t built to do that.”

Jody added: “It was completely the wrong advice because she absolutely thrived on what she did and she would have never stopped doing it because that’s what she wanted to do.”