Man charged over online sale of chemicals linked to two suicides
North Wales Police say Miles Cross will appear at Wrexham Magistrates' Court after packages sold online are connected to two deaths
A man from Wrexham has been charged after police said chemicals he sold online were linked to two suicides.
Miles Cross, 33, was charged on Friday with four counts of intentionally doing an act capable of encouraging or assisting the suicide of another and is due to appear at Wrexham Magistrates' Court on 16 October, North Wales Police said. He was arrested in January in connection with the sale of a substance online to assist with suicide.
The Crown Prosecution Service said prosecutors from its special crime division brought the charges after a police investigation into a business selling a substance. Two deaths are being investigated in connection with four packages that contained a substance sold online, the CPS said.
Malcolm McHaffie, head of the CPS special crime division, said prosecutors had worked to establish that there was sufficient evidence to bring the case to court and that it was in the public interest to pursue criminal proceedings.
North Wales Police said Cross was arrested as part of enquiries into the online sale of the substance. The force has not released details about the substance or the identities of the people who died, citing the ongoing investigation.
The case will proceed at Wrexham Magistrates' Court, where an initial hearing will be held. It is standard in such cases for magistrates' courts to deal first with procedural matters and, where necessary, commit the defendant to a higher court for trial.
The charges allege conduct that prosecutors say was intended to assist or encourage suicide. Under UK law, offences of encouraging or assisting suicide are prosecuted where evidence suggests a person’s actions were more than merely providing information or goods, and where prosecutors consider it in the public interest to bring a case.
Police and prosecutors did not disclose further operational details ahead of the court hearing. Anyone with information relevant to the investigation has been asked to contact North Wales Police.