Man admits he urged a woman to kill herself while online

LOUGHBOROUGH 22-YEAR-OLD IS FIRST CHARGED UNDER NEW LAW

- By STEPHANIE WAREHAM

A man has admitted urging a vulnerable woman he met online to kill herself and to seriously self-harm.

Tyler Webb, 22, of King Street, Loughborough, appeared at Leicester Crown Court yesterday via videolink from a mental health facility to admit one count of encouraging suicide and one count of encouraging or assisting someone to seriously self-harm.

Webb, who was the first person in the country to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023, sat with his head on a table and flanked by family members throughout the 15-minute hearing before running out of the room and not returning.

The court was not told any details of Webb's offending, but the Crown Prosecution Service said he used the Telegram video app to repeatedly tell the vulnerable woman, who cannot be named, to harm herself, and then to kill herself during a video call so he could watch.