A Coroner has called for urgent action after a west London jewellery designer formed a suicide pact online and overdosed on a substance freely available to buy on Amazon.
Chloe Macdermott, 43, used online chatrooms to research ways to kill herself and “formed an association” with two people “with whom she planned to end her life”, an inquest heard.
She had bought a substance usually used as a food preservative from the US through Amazon, and both she and an online contact ingested the substance on the same night in May 2021.
Ms Macdermott, who ran her own jewellery making business Kitty Clobber, died in the early hours of May 23, 2021, on her bed at the home she shared with her husband in Maida Vale.
Assistant Coroner for Inner West London, Paul Rogers, has now written to Home Secretary James Cleverley, Health Secretary Victoria Atkins, and Culture Secretary Lucy Fraser to call for action to prevent more deaths.
In a report copied also to bosses at Google and Amazon, Mr Rogers wrote: “Chloe was able to purchase the product used over the internet and have it delivered to her home in the UK.
“Enquiries showed the product was purchased using Amazon in the United States.”
He identified a website and chatrooms which “encourage suicide, assist it by provision of information about suicide methods, counsel suicide by providing information about it and thereby potentially facilitate the commission of a criminal offence in the United Kingdom.”
Recording the death as suicide at the conclusion of the inquest, Mr Rogers said Ms Macdermott had struggled for years with her mental health, and in her final weeks “became increasingly suicidal and researched ways to end her life using the internet, and internet chat rooms”.
“On or about 21st May 2021 she formed an association with two other persons with whom she planned to end her life.”
The following day, when her husband was away, she “contacted the persons she had discussed committing suicide with and an agreement was made to act that night.
“Chloe and one other person in a different part of the UK ingested (the substance) around midnight between 22nd & 23rd May 2021.
“Chloe died in the early hours of 23rd May 2021.”
The coroner pointed out that online forums where suicide is openly discussed do not have age restrictions or barriers to prevent access by vulnerable people.
“No prominent signposting is in place to organisations from whom help is available to prevent suicide”, he wrote. “Posts are made by users containing details of methods of suicide without any effective administration to remove such harmful content.”
He said the substance Ms Macdermott overdosed on can be bought online and delivered “to individual users in the UK with a non-commercial or agricultural use”, and “without effective border and/or custom controls”.
The government ministers, Amazon, Google, and British Transport Police which is the national lead for suicide prevention, have been asked to respond to the coroner’s report by mid-February 2024.
If you're struggling and need to talk, the Samaritans operate a free helpline open 24/7 on 116 123. Alternatively, you can email jo@samaritans.org or visit their site to find your local branch.
