UK: Coroner warning after eight suicide deaths in Greater Manchester linked to online poison sales

[Jojogu]

A senior coroner has raised alarm over the sale of a deadly poison online after eight people in Greater Manchester took their own lives using a chemical bought through the internet.

Timothy Brennand, the senior coroner for Manchester West, revealed the cluster of deaths in Bolton, Wigan, and Salford in a series of reports aimed at preventing future deaths.

He has called on the Home Office to review guidance around online sales of hazardous substances.

The unnamed substance, described only as a food preservative and reportable poison, was found to have been sold in at least 247 separate transactions across the UK and Europe.

Police investigations linked the chemical to 45 deaths and discovered 40 others had planned to use it to take their own lives.

Mr Brennand said the suppliers were not aware of this potential misuse of the substance.

He added that sellers wrongly believed the surge in purchases was related to increased interest in home-curing/food preservation as a hobby, during lockdown.

In reality, many were buying it to end their lives, often after visiting suicide-related websites that offer instructions on how to use such poisons.

Among those who died was Kelly Walsh, 45, from Wigan.

She was described as a "bubbly" woman who dreamed of launching children's books and charity projects, but tragically ended her life in February 2021. She had bought the substance from an online supplier in Lithuania.

Matthew O'Reilly, 18, a student from Stoke-on-Trent, was found dead in his Salford student flat in 2020. His family described him as "the perfect son".

Samuel Dickenson, 33, a father-of-two from Leigh, died after taking chemicals from a so-called "suicide pack" he purchased online in March 2020.

Other deaths included Matthew Price, 37, from Bolton, Shaun Bass, 23, from Bolton, Andrew Brown, 45, from Wigan, William Armstrong, 24, and Chantelle Williams, who died after taking the substance while in hospital in Salford.

Mr Brennand criticised current Home Office guidance for failing to help sellers identify suspicious purchases. He warned that websites "promoting suicide methods" are freely accessible and pose a clear public risk.

The Home Office now has 56 days to respond to the coroner's concerns.

ITV News

 

[DarkShadows]

I think it's worth mentioning this:

Fact-checking British SN hysteria.

So, I have posted several threads debunking the SN hysteria in the past[1][2]. It sadly happens that the media hypes up and overestimates how many people use SN as a popular method to end their own life when in reality it is more an obscure niche method than anything else. And the same thing has...

sanctioned-suicide.net

A lot of these deaths are from years ago when it was being sold on sites like Ebay. EBay banned SN sales years ago.

 

[darksouls]

thanks for the information

 

[leloyon]

Angloid Jannies geddoutta'ere

 

[SilentSadness]

That's a strange (psychopathic?) response though, eight people in their area kill themselves and they raise an alarm about the method of ctb. You would think that they would consider why these people ctb. Instead they give these horrifically manipulative obituaries like about what they "dreamed of", which implies they were murdered.

 

[jbdCkFqV]

That's a strange (psychopathic?) response though, eight people in their area kill themselves and they raise an alarm about the method of ctb. You would think that they would consider why these people ctb. Instead they give these horrifically manipulative obituaries like about what they "dreamed of", which implies they were murdered.

It's dismissive of the deceased, like they couldn't possibly have a complex inner life that brought them to suicide.

 

[LetMeOut67]

Another article. Some of us don't want to be here. Some of us live lives of utter agony we can't escape from. What's fair about that ?? You don't care about us anyway.

The sick website that no one can shut down

WARNING: This article contains discussion of suicide please think carefully before continuing to read the story.

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk

 

[LetMeOut67]

There is a two part documentary on Channel 4 this coming Wednesday and Thursday called Poisoned Killer In the Post

Poisoned: Killer in the Post, 9:00pm on Channel 4

The gripping investigation into a British man's death leads to a dark online world of suicide sites and the pursuit of a man selling lethal poison to hundreds of young people.

tv24.co.uk

‘I was constantly scared of what she was going to do’: the troubled life and shocking death of Immy Nunn

Two years after Immy killed herself, her mother Louise is still trying to understand how she found her way to a pro-suicide forum – and a man accused of supplying more than 1,000 packages of poison

www.theguardian.com

 

[Ch4in3dcr0w]

There is a two part documentary on Channel 4 this coming Wednesday and Thursday called Poisoned Killer In the Post

so thats one of the reasons why there has been influx of guests today. I think its disgusting that they smear this forum for the pain of those who CTB instead of reforming the psychatric system and making moral and painless alternative to those who chose not to live in this world. They blame this forum for the method like those people wouldnt CTB by a more painfull method that could leave them disabled. UK media and goverment is just disgusting

 

[LetMeOut67]

They think they know best.
They think we're disturbed. Au contraire we are singularly qualified to make the judgement. This planet now is only for evil bastards, psychopaths and the genetically fortunate. Even the dumbest knows this.
Fucking do gooders.

 

[JesiBel]

SN isn't my method, but it really pisses me off that they're making the less impactful ways of leaving this world increasingly inaccessible.

I suppose these lunatics would rather have someone choose to destroy themselves in front of a train than do it with a chemical.

Suicide will never cease to exist, no matter how much they ban certain materials.

It doesn't matter how good the therapist or psychiatrist is or the "medicine" they make you take (oh, and by the way, none of this is free). There are problems and situations so messed up that none of the 'options acceptable to society' can solve them. If it were that easy we would live in an eternally happy world, which is a fantasy.

They don't care about your suffering, they just want to keep you alive. The system cannot benefit from the dead.

My answer to these people would be, mind your own business, everyone is free to do what they want with their own life, no one cares about your beliefs and convictions. Do something useful with your lives and leave the forum and its people alone. You don't offer solutions, just more problems for the people who are suffering.

The "you are not alone" speech drives me crazy. Ugh.

 

[HarryCobean]

There is a two part documentary on Channel 4 this coming Wednesday and Thursday called Poisoned Killer In the Post

There's an article about it in Radio Times this week which trots out the usual lies about this forum.

 

[nobodycaresaboutme]

sadly people especially in the UK dont care about those suicidal. tbh even if the prime minister were somehow removed another prolife asshole would take the place. it sucks that they weaponize suicide deaths to beat SaSu. it's not prolifers but us that is offering help and support for the vulnerable.
i'm sorry for SaSu members who have to live in this country

 

[User111885]

one of the people they say was killed by SaSu was kept in a locked psychiatric facility from 20-24

imagine being young, wanted to date and be independent, and being kept in a locked facility for 4 years

of course she ended it when she got out, after being treated like shit by society like that, who would want to keep going?


if a person is kept in a place like that for 30 days, it could be helpful. 2 months, it's degrading. 3 months, horrific. beyond that, people just get angry, humiliated, and destroyed. 4 fucking years? maybe if they had let her out after months instead of years she wouldn't be dead. that psych facility killed her.

 

[secretghost]

one of the people they say was killed by SaSu was kept in a locked psychiatric facility from 20-24

imagine being young, wanted to date and be independent, and being kept in a locked facility for 4 years

of course she ended it when she got out, after being treated like shit by society like that, who would want to keep going?


if a person is kept in a place like that for 30 days, it could be helpful. 2 months, it's degrading. 3 months, horrific. beyond that, people just get angry, humiliated, and destroyed. 4 fucking years? maybe if they had let her out after months instead of years she wouldn't be dead. that psych facility killed her.

this. it's appalling. everyone one of us here has a personal vested interest in not being forced into an abusive system. even outside of suicidality myself and a lot of people I know have had so many malpractice experiences, it's insane to me that people truly think the current paradigm for "helping" suicidality is doing anything but killing people. I'd go on a limb and say if we looked at data in a different way, SaSu has way less associated completed suicides than Uk and US medical health system failures cause suicides. ugh

 

[LetMeOut67]

Watching the Channel 4 documentary.
Nothing is persuading me to change my views.
Of course they're not talking about the people who've been greatly helped by this site.

They're talking about people dying "in agony' through SN.
How do they know that??

 

[User111885]

Watching the Channel 4 documentary.
Nothing is persuading me to change my views.
Of course they're not talking about the people who've been greatly helped by this site.

They're talking about people dying "in agony' through SN.
How do they know that??

it's okay to let people suffer in agony on the streets, but choosing to die is not okay

the hypocracy is disgusting

"we care so much if you want to die" but if you are on the streets, suffer vile vermin

 

[LetMeOut67]

Yeah we do live in a terrible world Einstein . That's why we want out.

Poisoned: Killer in the Post review – the terrible story of the online site for selling lethal doses

This meticulous tale of an investigation into a Canadian chef accused of supplying deadly toxins on a suicide forum makes you despair. It’s yet more evidence that we live in a terrible world

www.theguardian.com

 

[blacksand]

The Kenneth law stuff is so out of date anyway. People have been buying elsewhere for ages.

 

[kopebaldy]

Once again didn't highlight why 8 people decided to do this.

 

[CatLvr]

Once again didn't highlight why 8 people decided to do this.

They don't care why because THAT'S the hard question and they don't have any answers. I envy them their naivete. But they also infuriate me -- I don't try to impose my beliefs onto them. Or anyone else, for that matter. But I am a grown woman who has lived a full life, raised her children, paid her bills and done the whole "life" thing. Why I want to go is unimportant. AND none of anyone else's business.

 

[Swan Song]

Ah, I saw an article in the Metro yesterday about someone buying SN but it was the Kenneth Law case again. The British media really likes to beat a dead horse and scaremonger. It feels next to impossible to get SN here now anyway so they're just preaching to hear the sound of their own voice now.