Essex Police are investigating the deaths of a young man and a young woman in an apparent chemical suicide pact.
It is reported that that Steve Lumb, 35 and Joanne Lee, 34, had met only hours before after initially making contact on an internet suicide forum. The pair were found dead in a car parked near to industrial units in Braintree, Essex.
It is believed the man and woman inside the car had created a lethal cocktail of chemicals which created hydrogen sulphide.
Police IT experts investigating the internet suicide forum say that Miss Lee posted an internet plea for a suicide partner using the name Heaven's Little Girl and was answered by trucker Steve Lumb. She wrote:
“I haven't strength to do this alone. I'm not a cop, a cannibal or a murderer, just desperate. I have all the ingredients and want to do it ASAP.”
Distraught parents of Joanne Lee say they had no knowledge that their daughter was planning to commit suicide and Steve Lumb’s father, who lived with his son, said he had never shown signs of being depressed.
Following a number of high-profile internet-related suicides over recent years, among them the tragic cases of 18-year-old Nadia Kajouji and 32-year-old Mark Drybrough, parliament changed the law last year in an attempt to prevent similar events occurring in the future.
The Suicide Act was amended by the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 in order to deal specifically with cases such as these.
Peter Saunders, of Care Not Killing, wrote:
“Should there be evidence sufficient to bring charges, all eyes will be upon the Director of Public Prosecutions to see whether he considers it to be in the public interest to do so.
“On the basis of what has been reported it seems highly likely that, had these two people not met on an internet forum, they would both still be alive today.
“Suicides like this can be prevented but it will require the joint commitment of parliament, prosecutors, police and communities if internet sites are to be properly regulated and the encouragement of suicide significantly curbed.”
A recent BBC Radio 4 programme revealed once again the actions of the infamous Dr Nitschke who was recently allowed into the UK despite the awareness that he wanted to present up-to-date information as to how to commit suicide running through the technicalities of suicide in his workshops. A number of people with depression committed suicide after visiting the website ran by Dr Nitschke’s organisation, Exit International.
Sources