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No charges for webcam suicide audience

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CPS cites lack of evidence

By Christopher Williams • Get more from this author

Posted in Law, 29th May 2007 10:31 GMT

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Chatroom users who watched a man hang himself live via webcam in March will not face any charges, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has confirmed.

The BBC reports that police evidence handed to prosecutors did not amount to a criminal offence in the suicide of Kevin Whitrick, 42, from Wellington, Shropshire. Mr Whitrick had suffered from depression following a serious car accident which he had not recovered from.

In a statement, a CPS spokesman said: "We examined all the evidence passed to us by the police and have concluded that none of the comments made in the chatroom amounted to a criminal offence."

At the time of his death, reports said fellow chatroom users on Paltalk.com had goaded Mr Whitrick into taking his own life. ®

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