- When Phillip Cranmer killed himself nearly three months
ago, his family were at a loss to understand why he had taken his own life.
The 20-year-old had no history of mental illness and had been laughing
and joking the day before. But it emerged that Phillip had been secretly
planning his death for months, logging on to internet chatrooms and surfing
the net for tips on committing suicide.
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- His father, Roy Boffey, has written to the Home Office
demanding an urgent investigation into suicide chat rooms. He wants people
who run them to face prosecution.
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- "The website played a significant part [in Phillip's
death]," said the retired teacher and hospital chaplain who, lives
in Solihull in the West Midlands. "He wasn't suffering in any way.
He wasn't having medication or suffering from depression."
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- There is no official regulation of suicide website chatrooms.
Experts believe they are dangerous because they may lead vulnerable young
people to encourage one another to end their lives.
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- Last year 35-year-old Michael Gooden jumped to his death
from Beachy Head after entering into a death pact with fellow chatroom
user Louis Gillies. Mr Gillies, 36, hanged himself on the day he was set
to stand trial for assisting his friend's suicide.
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- Under existing laws, anyone who helps another person
to commit suicide faces a maximum prison term of 14 years. A Home Office
spokeswoman said: "If anyone has evidence of a website that is encouraging
anyone to commit suicide, we urge them to report this to the police."
The Government has already drawn up a national suicide prevention strategy.
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- However, providing information that enables someone to
kill themselves is not necessarily illegal. Charities which support families
of suicide victims said more research is needed. "There may be situations
where people are encouraged to take their lives," said John Peters,
spokesman for Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide. "These sites are
not likely to stress the effect that suicide will have on those who are
left behind."
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- The Samaritans said there were benefits in people being
able to share suicidal thoughts with others who can empathise with them
but said there were "better places" to find such support.
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- "There was one incident when a guy not interested
in suicide was encouraging others," said a spokeswoman. "He was
part of a cult who think the world is over-populated.
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- "It's impossible to know who is using [a chatroom]
and if people really are who they say they are. If someone is feeling vulnerable,
there are other places that would be more constructive to visit. These
sites can be very negative sites to visit."
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- After Phillip's death, his family learned that he had
been logging on to internet suicide sites for more than eight months. His
diary entry a couple of days before he died on 8 September read: "The
one thing that must not happen is for this to go wrong. I do not want to
be saved."
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- Yet Mr Boffey said there was no indication that Phillip
was in emotional distress. Having passed his A-levels, he was looking forward
to a gap year before taking a film studies course. Mr Boffey said: "He
was perfectly normal nine-tenths of the time, but with the website he had
a secret obsession on the subject of death. For reasons we will never know,
he chose to take his life. It's not a healthy society that tolerates instructions
on how to do this. It's not something to ignore."
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- © 2003 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd
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- http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health/story.jsp?story=466404
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