Two strangers gassed themselves to death hours after making a pact on a suicide website.
Joanne Lee, using the name Heaven's Little Girl, pleaded online for a partner willing to die with her.
The 34-year-old wrote: “I haven’t the strength to do this alone. I have all the ingredients and want to do it ASAP.”
Steve Lumb, 35, drove across the country to answer the advert and shortly after the pair met they were dead.
Their smartly-dressed bodies were found in Lumb’s car on an Essex industrial estate. Firemen had to wear airtight suits to remove them from the vehicle, which was filled with lethal gas.
On Wednesday night a British MP and mental health charities urged the government to act against websites where suicide is discussed and encouraged.
Lee lived alone with her two cats in Great Notley, near Braintree, Essex, and suffered depression and anorexia.
In the weeks before her death she posted her plans to kill herself on suicide Internet forums, where cyber friends offered her words of encouragement and provided her with tips on how to do it.
She wanted to know if she could make enough of a particular lethal gas to use in her bathroom.
One forum member replied: If your bathroom is small, maybe that would work if you ensured it was as airtight as you could possibly make it.
That attempt apparently failed and Lee then advertised for a suicide partner and Lumb made contact.
Last Sunday the bachelor wrote a farewell message on a website revealing his plans to CTB catch the bus - the online phrase used for committing suicide.
He wrote: “I’m just saying goodbye im ctb today, and to all you people suffering i hope you find what your looking for. “
Lumb drove 200 miles from his home in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, and the pair died after mixing chemicals to make the lethal gas.
They were found by workers on Monday morning in his Vauxhall Astra on a remote corner of an industrial estate in Braintree. Notes had been placed on the windows warning of its highly toxic contents.
Mr Lumb s father, Melvyn, 63, said his son spent a lot of time playing computer games but he had no idea he was visiting sinister and macabre suicide sites.
He said the lorry driver had spent an ordinary weekend at home with him before saying goodbye on Sunday afternoon.
He said he would be away all week but he seemed quite normal and said he would see me later. He didn’t show any indication that anything was wrong. If there was it must have been building up inside of him.
I lost my wife, Elizabeth, a couple of years ago. Whether that preyed on his mind I don t know. I thought the world of him. I couldn’t have had a better son.
Miss Lee s father Geoffrey, 63, separated from her mother Jill Chappell, 64, some years ago and she has since remarried.
In a statement Lee’s family said: “Joanne Michelle Lee was a shy, gentle, thoughtful and caring daughter, sister, and friend. Joanne suffered bouts of low self-esteem and depression and had an eating disorder that developed into anorexia nervosa.
She was receiving NHS treatment for these conditions right to the end. In more recent times we thought that her condition was improving. She seemed more content than she had been for a long time. She seemed happy.
It was devastating for family and friends to discover that she had delved into the darker side of the internet. We were not aware of any connection with Steve Lumb or involvement in suicide websites.
We are a close, loving family and our loss is devastating. Our thoughts go out to the family of Mr Lumb.
Last night Brooks Newmark, Conservative MP for Braintree said: Having internet sites out there explaining how to commit suicide with over-the-counter chemicals is wrong. We as a Government need to think of mechanisms within the European Union to try to close them down. It s difficult to control the internet but we need to try.
Marjorie Wallace, chief executive of mental health charity SANE, said: This contamination on the internet poses a new and deadly threat, which we must fight to prevent more suicides.
We call on the Government to monitor websites on which people can incite others to take their own lives. We also call for website hosts to direct people toward help.
Catherine Johnstone, chief executive of Samaritans, which counsels suicidal people, said: A distressed person can meet another person online and, instead of finding help and support, they end up encouraging each other to do something they might not have done alone.
What we are doing is making sure that Samaritans website is one of the search engine results when a person looks for suicide-related information online, so the option is there for them to seek help.
Anyone promoting or encouraging suicide online could face prosecution after the law was amended last year. It is now an offence to intentionally encourage or assist another person suicide even if you cannot identify him or her. - Daily Mail