Drug seller guilty of assisting suicides gets 14 years

A Wrexham man who sold lethal drugs online has been jailed for encouraging or assisting suicide.

Miles Cross was given the maximum possible sentence after selling a chemical substance to four people who were seeking help online to kill themselves, two died as a result of his actions.

Assisting or encouraging a suicide is illegal in England and Wales under the 1961 Suicide Act and punishable by up to 14 years’ imprisonment.

‘Help is out there’

Sentencing at Mold County Court, Judge Rhys Rowlands told Cross he was satisfied of his intention “to make money out of selling the substance to others”, and that he had done so in the knowledge it was to be used to “end another’s life”.

Detective Superintendent Chris Bell, the Senior Investigating Officer, said the sentence reflected “the severity of Cross’ offending, as he preyed on his victims online and exploited them in their most desperate moments, profiting off their vulnerability and mental wellbeing.

“Instead of assisting them to seek support, he proactively encouraged them to end their lives and provided them with a means to do so, which tragically and needlessly resulted in two deaths.”

He added: “If you have thoughts of suicide or self-harm, help is out there. Whatever you are going through, you don’t have to face it alone.”

Grim contradiction

In September, The Christian Institute’s Director Ciarán Kelly noted how World Suicide Prevention Day served as “a global reminder that every life matters, and that those in despair deserve to be given hope, help and care.”

Writing in Evangelicals Now, he observed how the 2025 date fell just two days before the second reading of MP Kim Leadbeater’s assisted suicide Bill in the House of Lords.

He remarked: “One day we say, ‘Don’t give up,’ and the next we consider legislation to allow the NHS to give people drugs to help them end their lives.”

“Yet this Bill would constitute an official declaration by the state that if you are experiencing certain combinations of physical and mental ill health, then ending your life is the rational choice. It sends a dangerous signal: that some lives are not worth living.”

Hypocrisy

Last year, Kim Leadbeater MP was accused of hypocrisy for attending an event focussing on suicide prevention. At the time, she called it a “powerful reminder of the need for continued work on suicide prevention”.

Writing for The Critic, Adam James Pollock commented: “It is morally nonsensical to advocate for greater support for suicide prevention while simultaneously spearheading the campaign to legislate for suicide to be provided by the National Health Service on behalf of the state.”

More recently, she also made a show of appearing to support the hospice sector, although she voted against an amendment to her Private Member’s Bill that would have allowed hospices to opt out providing assisted suicides on their premises.