A jewellery designer made a suicide pact with two people she met online and used the internet to buy deadly poison, an inquest found. Chloe Macdermott, 43, who ran her own jewellery-making business Kitty Clobber, took her own life on May 23, 2021 after buying a lethal substance from the US on Amazon.
She had been struggling with her mental health for several years before she began researching ways to end her life on an online forum, an inquest at Inner West London Coroner’s Court was told. Two days before her death, she “formed an association” with two people with whom she planned suicide.
A day later, she contacted them while her husband was away and “an agreement was made to act that night”. She ingested the substance at about midnight and died from its effects the next morning.
Google and Amazon urged to act to prevent more deaths
Coroner Paul Rogers, recording a conclusion of suicide, has issued a prevention of future deaths report to Google and Amazon and said he believes they have the power to stop a similar tragedy from happening. The report has also been sent to the Home, Health and Culture secretaries alongside the national lead for suicide prevention at the National Police Chiefs Council.
Mr Rogers said it is a “matter of concern” that the forum Ms Macdermott used and others like it “encourage suicide, assist it by provision of information about suicide methods, counsel suicide by providing information about it and thereby potentially facilitate the commission of a criminal offence in the United Kingdom”.
Where to get help if you're struggling
You don't have to suffer in silence if you're struggling with your mental health. Here are some groups you can contact when you need help.
Samaritans: Phone 116 123, 24 hours a day, or email jo@samaritans.org in confidence
Childline: Phone 0800 1111. Calls are free and won't show up on your bill
PAPYRUS: For teens and young adults. Phone 0800 068 4141
Depression Alliance: The charity offers useful resources for people struggling.
Students Against Depression: For students who are depressed, have low mood, or are suicidal.
Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM): Phone 0800 58 58 58. For young men who are feeling unhappy.
For information on your local NHS urgent mental health helpline, visit here
He said: “[The forum, whose name was redacted] is a forum that permits material to be exchanged and viewed within its open chatrooms whereby suicide is encouraged, assisted, counselled and procured through the provision and exchange of information and methods.
“No age or other restrictions are in place to prevent access to children, vulnerable teenagers and vulnerable adults. No prominent signposting is in place to organisations from whom help is available to prevent suicide. Posts are made by users containing details of methods of suicide without any effective administration to remove such harmful content.”
Mr Rogers said the substance Ms Macdermott overdosed on can be bought online and delivered “to individual users in the UK with a non-commercial or agricultural use”. Its availability, and the ability of Britons to have it delivered from the US “without effective border and/or custom controls”, is a matter of concern, he added.
The government ministers, Amazon, Google, and British Transport Police which is the national lead for suicide prevention, have been asked to respond to the coroner’s report in 56 days, by mid-February. They must outline the action they intend to take to prevent future deaths and a timetable for doing so. If no action is proposed they must explain why.
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