A father-of-two hanged himself live over the internet in Britain's first 'cyber suicide'.
Kevin Whitrick, 42, took his life after being goaded by dozens of chatroom users from across the world who initially believed he was play acting.
But as they watched in horror, Mr Whitrick climbed onto a chair, smashed through a ceiling and then hanged himself with a piece of rope.
Kevin Neil Whitrick, 42, was found dead by police in Wellington, after being alerted by a web user who is thought to have watched in horror as the man harmed himself
Stunned by what they had witnessed - broadcast on a popular chatroom website used by millions of people across the globe - chatroom users immediately contacted the police.
Officers rushed to the electrician's home in the Wellington area of Shropshire within minutes, smashing down the door to try to save him.
But despite their efforts to save him, he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Last night it emerged that Mr Whitrick had been suffering from depression after being badly injured in a car crash last year.
Friends said that the breakdown of his marriage with wife, Paula - with whom he had 12-year-old twins - and the recent death of his father had also been causing him some distress.
Mr Whitrick told users of web-chat site PalTalk what he was going to do two hours before he killed himself on Wednesday night.
He was logged on with around 50 other users to a special "insult" chatroom where people "have a go at each other".
Today distraught users of the site said that they felt sick and had previously thought the web broadcast was a hoax.
They confirmed Mr Whitrick told friends in the internet chat room of his plans to kill himself but, thinking he was joking, they egged him on telling him to make sure the his webcam was on.
Mr Whitrick, using the user-name Shyboy-17-1, switched on his webcam and went ahead with his grisly plan.
One anonymous user said: "He tied a rope around an uncovered ceiling joist and stood on the chair as he tied the rope around his neck.
"Some of us chatroom users, talking to Kevin over text chat, microphones and video tried to convince him to step down, but others egged him on telling him to get on with it.
"We just couldn't believe he was doing it - it was surreal.
"One chatter said: 'F***ing do it, get on with it, get it round your neck. For F***'s sake he can't even do this properly'."
Another user who did not wish to be named said: "When Kevin stepped off the chair and was left dangling, the mood in the chatroom changed and people began to realise what they had just seen.
7 comments:
isn't it a crime to goad someone to suicide?
If it isn't it will be soon. We're such a litigious society that before long the next time you tell someone to drop dead you're going to be doing hard time.
The thing that really worries me is that one of the people who watched the proceedings somehow recorded it and it's going to wind up on some Dutch server.
My only hope is that this is some sort of really elaborate hoax. That would really make me happy.
The guy known as puma in that chat room should be charged for manslaughter in my eyes cos puma is sick and evil for tormenting kevin and egging him to commit suicide . puma gets a buzz out of insulting people and he has the cheek to say that he was kevins friend and he didnt think kevin would do it. what sort of friend says to another friend do it go on kill ya self commit suicide hmmmm that is not a friend of kevins in my eyes and maybe if puma had not egged him on then maybe kevin would be alive today . i hope that monster puma gets his punishment
I was there when this happened... Puma didnt know ffs. we all thought it was a joke. Kevin was a great guy and it was the last thing we expected out of him.. The room is known as a "wind up" room.... and thats just what we thought it was, a wind up. Besides that, the police stated that his speakers were turned down at the time, he could hear no one. Puma feels extreamly guilty even after hearing that Kevin didnt hear him in the first place. Its hard on all of us. We will miss him terribly.
This is a horrible mixture. A lot of people who contemplate suicide are desperate for attention. Now they're getting that attention they crave, but from a pack of sickos.
Yeah, isn't that "Diana" Law in effect in the UK? You can't stand by and watch a crime being committed.
I've seen some really grim stuff on the internet, but this sounds heinous
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Sad. My feeling is this was not a hoax. I don't have the stomach to watch it if it's not.
Somehow this does NOT surprise me; technology and human nature always combine in a dreadful alchemy in circumstances like this.
There's some guy who tolerated being sawed in half by a band-saw in his suicide...I mean, WHY that way?
Grime creature, we are.
Sadly it is real, and its even sadder that the users shared the pics. Puma IS an ass, I've known him for years, and had chatted in that room on other occasions. PalTalk should have been sued as well. Kel, the room owner, and everyone who egged him on. And I hope they track down everyone of you that posted his pics on the net hanging!!! His poor kids have to live with this.
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