Man, 23, who told woman to kill herself jailed in landmark case
A man who urged a vulnerable woman to attempt suicide in video calls for his own sexual pleasure has been jailed in a landmark case.
Tyler Webb met his victim, who was then aged 21, in an online forum dedicated to mental health and began grooming her.
The 23-year-old persuaded the woman to seriously self-harm and convinced her to send a photograph of her injuries.
Webb also tried to convince his victim to take her own life in a video call but the suicide attempt failed.
He has now been jailed for nine years and four months but was handed a hybrid order, meaning he will begin his sentence in hospital until he is deemed fit for prison, The Sun reports.
Webb is the first person in the UK to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under a new law introduced at the end of January last year under Section 184 of Britain's Online Safety Act 2023.
He pleaded guilty to that charge and a separate charge of encouraging suicide between June 22 and July 11 last year.
Judge Timothy Spencer KC agreed that 'very largely' Webb was motivated by sexual gratification.
Leicester Crown Court heard after the pair first met on the forum, they began using the Telegram app for 'dark' conversations.
Over a six-week period, Webb repeatedly told her she had nothing to live for and gave her methods to take her own life.
In one 44-minute phone call, he persistently tried to get the woman to kill herself.
When she made clear she was not going to do so, Webb then threatened to move on to another woman instead.
Prosecutor Louise Oakley said that when Webb encouraged her to harm herself, 'in (the victim's) words, he loved it. Tyler Webb told her it turned him on'.
She continued: 'He told her he wanted her to do it during a video call so he could watch.
'He would berate her and say she had nothing to live for and she should die.'
After the woman's failed suicide attempt, she contacted police as she feared Webb would persuade someone else to harm themself.
Webb was arrested a week later at his home in Loughborough in July 2024.
Police found his user profile on Reddit – called u/EmpathicNarcissist – that showed disturbing images of anime characters with fatal injuries.
In a victim impact statement, the woman said: 'I don't want to call this encouraging serious self-harm or suicide, I want to call this what it is – an attempted murder through psychological means.
'What Tyler did was not a mistake, it was calculated psychological violence. He didn't try to kill me with his hands but with his words.
'He had no turmoil while torturing me. He told me that my only value was in dying for his entertainment.
'I'm alive, but the life I have left is altered forever. My life is ruined – my mind and body have been severely damaged.'
The court heard Webb has been diagnosed with mental health disorders including autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and anxiety and depressive disorders.
His defence barrister Joey Kwong said Webb was in a 'dark time' with his mental health and 'wrongly he adopted such warped behaviour and distorted thinking' from material he saw online.
Detective Constable Lauren Hampton, of Leicestershire Police, said: 'This case is not only truly shocking but also deeply concerning.
'Webb preyed upon a vulnerable woman at a time when she was reaching out to people in an online forum for help and support.
'He quickly gained her trust and then he began with his barrage of vile requests – all the time knowing that what he was telling her to do could result in her ending her own life.
'Thankfully, this did not happen, and the victim was able to report what had happened.'
Following his sentencing on July 4, police released shocking video footage of the moment Webb was arrested.
In it, he can be seen looking confused as cops slapped cuffs on him, citing he was under arrest for suspicion of encouraging suicide.
Webb, who is dressed in a blue robe, responds by telling officers he has 'kittens upstairs that I need to look after'.
His first words have since sparked a huge response on social media as many call for an update on the welfare of the baby cats.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
20 hours ago
- ABC News
Man charged over alleged assault of three police officers in Sydney's west
A man has been charged after three police officers were allegedly assaulted in Sydney's west, with one being knocked unconscious for more than an hour. Two female officers were called to a mental health incident in Bidwill on Friday evening, where they found a man sitting on the side of the road. Police said the man stood up as the two officers approached him before allegedly assaulting a 23-year-old female officer by kicking and punching her and knocking her to the ground. The second officer, a 22-year-old woman, was also punched in the face while attempting to arrest the man. NSW Police Detective Superintendent Darrin Batchelor said another patrol car arrived at the scene shortly after and saw the female officer lying unconscious on the ground. "They immediately got out of the car and assisted in the arresting of that offender." Capsicum spray was used to subdue the 19-year-old man, who was arrested and put into a patrol car. He also later allegedly bit a male officer on the arm while being transported to the hospital for treatment. The 23-year-old officer remained unconscious for up to 70 minutes while being taken by ambulance to Westmead Hospital in a stable condition. She had since been discharged from hospital. The 22-year-old female officer was taken to hospital as a precaution, and the male officer who was allegedly bitten is awaiting blood tests results. The 19-year-old man has now been released from hospital and charged with three counts of assault police officer in execution of duty causing actual bodily harm and three counts of hinder or resist police officer in the execution of duty. He will face Parramatta Local Court on Sunday. Acting NSW Police Commissioner Peter Thurtell said the alleged assaults were an example of the risks police officers faced on a daily basis. "I commend the bravery and courage of the officers involved — they deserve respect not violence. "Police attend these welfare-related jobs on a daily basis, and incidents like this one highlight the risks and dangers officers face when they are out on our streets protecting the local community."
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
Yes, condemn the anti-IDF rappers. But then you don't get to ignore it when others do the same thing
Before we deal with more complicated matters let's acknowledge, without caveat, the numbskullery of a British rap duo called 'Bob Vylan'. First of all, on a note that carries no substance but bugs me nonetheless: Bob Vylan? Really? Is that ... is that allowed? We're just stealing the names of other musicians, now, and changing one letter? By that logic I could go around calling myself Chakira, and indulging in a little bum wiggle here and there, and committing tax fraud, and label it art. (That's a touch too harsh on Shakira. She did give us the second-catchiest World Cup anthem of my lifetime, and the raciest Super Bowl half time show since Janet Jackson, both of which warrant no small dividend of respect. Pay your taxes though, babe.) As for the real Vylans of the piece here. While performing at the Glastonbury music festival in Britain, the pair led chants of 'death, death to the IDF', referring to Israel's military, which were broadcast live by the BBC, and thus beamed around the world. As a general rule, surely we can agree that any sentence starting with 'death, death to' is heading in a very poor direction. 'Restraint, restraint from the IDF' may lack punch, but it also lacks any conceivable justification for, or incitement to, violence. Which is to say much of the indignation this week has been warranted. British police opened an investigation into the group, which is roughly in line with their treatment of other extreme rhetoric. Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned them. Their agent ditched them. Shows across Europe were cancelled. The US government revoked their visas, stressing that 'foreigners who glorify violence and hatred are not welcome visitors'. (No word on whether hatred glorified by American citizens - say, members of Congress, or senior administration officials - deserves similar condemnation, but that's a whole other kettle of scalding hot water, and we shan't touch it today.) I'm not here to argue any of the backlash described above was wrong. It all ties into a broader question about how liberal societies should calibrate their restrictions on free speech, and across 34 years of life I have never yet encountered a perfect answer. You're fumbling around for the least objectionable border between irreconcilable rights. Not easy. You can sense the looming 'but'. I am here to wonder why these loathsome words, from a pair of formerly quasi-famous rappers - (I'm not quite deficient enough in self-awareness to call them nobodies) - are being treated as more outrageous, and worthier of action, than the daily, continuing tide of actual violence, and actual death, in Gaza. You don't go to any music festival in search of sophisticated views on foreign policy. There's a rawer form of humanity on display. So why is it that we seem, collectively, to care so much more, to be so more readily angry, about a chant at Glastonbury than the opinions, and decisions, of those privileged individuals who actually hold the power to shape what will happen in Gaza and Israel? The future tense there is deliberate. We all know what happened, past tense, on October 7 of 2023. We know of the innocent lives stolen, and the indelible trauma those horrors have inflicted on thousands of Israelis. We know civilians were dragged into the tunnels as hostages, where some remain all these months later. We know about the litany of other atrocities committed by Hamas, not just on that day, but for many years before it. We know it's a terrorist group whose existence hinges on an objective of genocide. We know it cynically uses Palestinian civilians as human shields, hiding in hospitals and neighbourhoods. And we recognise the cruel irony that follows, when Hamas condemns the deaths it goaded Israel into causing. So to banish any lack of clarity: a person who supports Hamas in Australia, or Britain, or America, or any other liberal nation, is insulting their own intelligence. We also know that, in this age of social media, the terrors of war are more easily witnessed and documented than ever before. Which makes the images from Gaza uniquely affecting. All these things we know. And not one of them gives Israel a carte blanche to do absolutely anything it likes in response. Not one renders all collateral damage acceptable. Not one frees Israel from the obligations of international law, or of basic morality. Not one strips all the women, children and innocent men in Gaza of their dignity and right to life. The responsibility of those with power is to consider what comes next; to build the best possible future they can. Not to seek vengeance for what came before. And this war ... what has it become, exactly? It started as a crime against Israeli civilians. Then it became a retaliatory mission, one of self-defence, whose stated aim was to root out Hamas. What is it now? Whole cities have been reduced to rubble. Some monumental number of the 2.2 million people who lived in Gaza are dead. And the survivors of this carnage live in tents, and walk kilometres to line up for food, ever fearful of gunshots from the soldiers above. Where does it stop? What is the objective? How does this end any other way than with the radicalisation of an entire new generation of Palestinians, and more decades of violence, and more despicable anti-Semitism rising across the world in a backlash to Israel's actions, and any prospect of a lasting peace being killed off for another lifetime? If you are genuinely angry, and genuinely horrified, by those words from Bob Vylan, then I ask this of you: as you read these quotes below, imagine the roles are reversed. Assess how you would react if a Palestinian said these things about the Israeli people. First is Nissim Vaturi, Deputy Speaker in Israel's Knesset and a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's party. He described the Palestinians as 'subhumans'. And he called for all men in Gaza to be killed. 'Who is innocent in Gaza? 'Civilians' went out and slaughtered people in cold blood,' Mr Vaturi told the radio station Kol BaRama. Air quotes there implied by him, not me. 'They are outcasts, and no one in the world wants them.' He argued that Israel should 'separate the children and women and kill the adults in Gaza', and said the IDF was being 'too considerate'. 'The international community understands the residents of Gaza are not welcome anywhere.' Too considerate! One truly does shudder at the thought of an inconsiderate IDF. Here is Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. 'The humanitarian aid currently entering Gaza is an absolute disgrace,' Mr Gallant said just last week. 'What is needed in Gaza is not a temporary halt of the 'humanitarian' aid, but a complete cessation of it. 'Stopping the aid will quickly advance us toward victory.' That would be the aid which is currently the only thing feeding children who might otherwise starve to death. Give Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich some marks, at least, for brevity: 'Gaza will be entirely destroyed.' Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu said there were 'no uninvolved civilians' in Gaza. None. Among a population of more than two million. All of them are complicit, apparently. Moshe Feiglin, leader of the Zehut party in the Knesset, is mercifully not a government minister. He is, however, a man of questionable opinions. 'Every child, every baby in Gaza is an enemy,' said Mr Feiglin. 'The enemy is not Hamas, nor is it the military wing of Hamas. 'We need to occupy Gaza and settle it, and not a single Gazan child will be left there. There is no other victory.' Look, I could keep going here. There is no shortage of material. And given the time, I could draw up a list of stunningly bloodthirsty language from Arab leaders as well. It's not all Israelis, nor is it all Arabs, nor is it all Palestinians, and that is part of the damn point here. Everywhere you look in this conflict, there's a refusal to recognise the humanity in other people. From the anti-Semites, you get a failure to distinguish between the actions of Israel's government and those of the Jewish people. And in the other direction, a failure to tell the difference between Hamas militants and the civilians, many of them small children for goodness' sake, whose bodies lie crushed amid the ruins. Perpetuating those attitudes will give us nothing more than pain and death, forever. Someone in a position of leadership needs to grow beyond them. Or you will be back here in 20 years reading the same rant, and I'll be back here in 40 years writing it again. After October 7, I made a point of watching the footage responsible news organisations would never publish. To call it harrowing would be a mockery of the word. Now the images that you, as a reader, will never see, are of Palestinian kids with their limbs blown off. Among other horrors. If you can muster fury for one, but not the other, then for the love of whatever god you believe in, do consider waking up. Consider the fact that everyone involved here is a human being, with the same inherent dignity. Consider the fact that, were you born in Tel Aviv, or Jerusalem, or Gaza, or the West Bank, you might be a victim, not a witness. The entire conflict is a catastrophe. It's repugnant. Every day it degrades us. So yes. Condemn the rappers. Cancel their shows. Prosecute them, if laws have been broken. But the next time a government official speaks of children as enemies, not from the stage at a music festival but from a place of real, substantive power, I expect your indignation to burn no less brightly.
News.com.au
a day ago
- News.com.au
Man, 23, who told woman to kill herself jailed in landmark case
WARNING: Contains discussion of suicide A man who urged a vulnerable woman to attempt suicide in video calls for his own sexual pleasure has been jailed in a landmark case. Tyler Webb met his victim, who was then aged 21, in an online forum dedicated to mental health and began grooming her. The 23-year-old persuaded the woman to seriously self-harm and convinced her to send a photograph of her injuries. Webb also tried to convince his victim to take her own life in a video call but the suicide attempt failed. He has now been jailed for nine years and four months but was handed a hybrid order, meaning he will begin his sentence in hospital until he is deemed fit for prison, The Sun reports. Webb is the first person in the UK to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under a new law introduced at the end of January last year under Section 184 of Britain's Online Safety Act 2023. He pleaded guilty to that charge and a separate charge of encouraging suicide between June 22 and July 11 last year. Judge Timothy Spencer KC agreed that 'very largely' Webb was motivated by sexual gratification. Leicester Crown Court heard after the pair first met on the forum, they began using the Telegram app for 'dark' conversations. Over a six-week period, Webb repeatedly told her she had nothing to live for and gave her methods to take her own life. In one 44-minute phone call, he persistently tried to get the woman to kill herself. When she made clear she was not going to do so, Webb then threatened to move on to another woman instead. Prosecutor Louise Oakley said that when Webb encouraged her to harm herself, 'in (the victim's) words, he loved it. Tyler Webb told her it turned him on'. She continued: 'He told her he wanted her to do it during a video call so he could watch. 'He would berate her and say she had nothing to live for and she should die.' After the woman's failed suicide attempt, she contacted police as she feared Webb would persuade someone else to harm themself. Webb was arrested a week later at his home in Loughborough in July 2024. Police found his user profile on Reddit – called u/EmpathicNarcissist – that showed disturbing images of anime characters with fatal injuries. In a victim impact statement, the woman said: 'I don't want to call this encouraging serious self-harm or suicide, I want to call this what it is – an attempted murder through psychological means. 'What Tyler did was not a mistake, it was calculated psychological violence. He didn't try to kill me with his hands but with his words. 'He had no turmoil while torturing me. He told me that my only value was in dying for his entertainment. 'I'm alive, but the life I have left is altered forever. My life is ruined – my mind and body have been severely damaged.' The court heard Webb has been diagnosed with mental health disorders including autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and anxiety and depressive disorders. His defence barrister Joey Kwong said Webb was in a 'dark time' with his mental health and 'wrongly he adopted such warped behaviour and distorted thinking' from material he saw online. Detective Constable Lauren Hampton, of Leicestershire Police, said: 'This case is not only truly shocking but also deeply concerning. 'Webb preyed upon a vulnerable woman at a time when she was reaching out to people in an online forum for help and support. 'He quickly gained her trust and then he began with his barrage of vile requests – all the time knowing that what he was telling her to do could result in her ending her own life. 'Thankfully, this did not happen, and the victim was able to report what had happened.' Following his sentencing on July 4, police released shocking video footage of the moment Webb was arrested. In it, he can be seen looking confused as cops slapped cuffs on him, citing he was under arrest for suspicion of encouraging suicide. Webb, who is dressed in a blue robe, responds by telling officers he has 'kittens upstairs that I need to look after'. His first words have since sparked a huge response on social media as many call for an update on the welfare of the baby cats.
