Charity in suicide websites call

A charity has urged the Government to outlaw websites that help people commit suicide.

Papyrus, a group set up to prevent young people from killing themselves, claims there is a "lack of awareness" about the role of the internet in promoting suicide.

As the charity marked World Suicide Prevention Day, it launched a campaign to have hosting a website that promotes suicide made illegal and for parents to be educated about the dangers of suicide chatrooms.

Paul Kelly, trustee and co-ordinator of Papyrus, said earlier this year that at least 16 youngsters in the UK were known to have died since 2001 in internet-related suicides.

Some websites give technical information and advice on the most painless forms of suicide, while chatrooms tend to be populated by people who are themselves suicidal and give comfort and support to others in the same situation, he said.

There are also other internet users who give encouragement to youngsters to kill themselves for their own pleasure, according to Mr Kelly.

Mr Kelly, from north Cornwall, who lost his son, Simon, 18, in 2001 to a website-related suicide, said the 1961 Suicide Act, drawn up decades before the internet, was inadequate.

This is because for a crime to be committed the prosecution must not simply prove advice on suicide has been given but also show a definite link between the information given and the act of killing.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "It is a complicated issue but obviously one that we would be very concerned about. There is also a lot of Governmental non-legislative action to tackle this issue."

There are tens of millions of web pages on the internet discussing suicide but only about 12 main suicide websites worldwide, based mainly in Holland, the US and Japan. None is based in the UK, according to Papyrus.