A man in England has been sentenced to 14 years in prison after being found guilty of selling assisted suicide chemicals through an online forum, leading to the deaths of two individuals in a case believed to be the first of its kind.
Miles Cross, 33, from Wrexham, was found guilty on four counts of intentionally doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting suicide. The Crown Prosecution Service said Cross sold the lethal substance to four individuals through an online forum and sent it to them by post. “Cross received payments of £100 from four people and sent them the substance through the post. Two people took their own lives as a result.”
Alison Storey, specialist prosecutor with the CPS Special Crime Division, said: “Miles Cross preyed on four people in a distressed state and knowingly provided a substance intended to end their lives.”
She added: “This case is a stark reminder of the dangers posed by those who aim to exploit vulnerable individuals online. The CPS will always aim to hold offenders to account when they illegally seek to encourage or assist a suicide.”
It was reported that Cross was part of an online suicide forum that he described as “a bible”, and that he wished to sell the fatal substance to individuals to “help others end their lives”.
Cross’s sentencing comes as the assisted suicide Bill, which would permit state involvement in suicide for people thought to have six months or less to live, continues to be debated at Committee Stage in the House of Lords.
Whilst Cross has been convicted of criminal wrongdoing, there have been other alleged cases of illegal assisted suicide in the UK in recent years, many of which have been linked to pro-assisted suicide campaigners.
Dr Philip Nitschke, a former GP nicknamed “Dr Death”, who also invented the Sarco assisted suicide pod, said he published details of a lethal poison, which he described as offering a “cheap” and “reliable” method of achieving a “peaceful death”, in an online suicide handbook.
Nitschke also said he introduced the poison to Kenneth Law, a former chef who then began selling it and who has been linked to more than 90 deaths in the UK. Law is currently awaiting trial on 14 charges of first-degree murder and 14 counts of aiding and counselling suicide.
Law allegedly offered lethal substances and other methods of suicide on now-defunct websites called “Imtime Cuisine” and “Escape Mode”. More than 1,200 packages are believed to have been ordered from these websites and delivered to people in 40 countries.
Recently, Nitschke hosted an assisted suicide workshop in London, where he presented methods he claimed could bring about the intentional end of life, including the use of gases, mechanical devices and poisons.
Catherine Robinson, spokeswoman for Right To Life UK, said: “Miles Cross’s crimes are appalling, and it is only just that he has been sentenced to 14 years. Equally appalling is the current attempt to legalise assistance in suicide for those thought to be near the end of their lives. We recognise that Cross’s actions, even though he appears not to have coerced anyone, are wrong because they prey on vulnerable people in some of the darkest moments in their lives. The legalisation of assisted suicide will do the same thing.”
She added: “If assisted suicide were to become legal in England and Wales, we would see many more vulnerable people lose their lives. We must never allow the actions of such men to be vindicated, and we must never allow this dangerous Bill to become law.”
Read the original version of this article here. This article was originally published by Right To Life UK and is republished with permission.
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