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Mother of Jamie Oliver chef calls on Prime Minister to ban suicide websites she blames for her son's death

A mother has called on the Prime Minister to ban websites which promote ways of committing suicide which she blames for her son's death. 

Kevin Boyle, 26, beat more than 1,500 competitors to become one of the original apprentices at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen restaurant where he cooked for Prince Charles and Oprah Winfrey.

But the talented cook had a history of mental illness and was found dead about two miles from his home in Coulsdon, south London, in January last year, three months after going missing.

His badly decomposed body was found with two notes and what is believed to be a suicide kit that had been bought for £44 from a foreign company on the internet.

At his inquest at Croydon Coroner's Court yesterday, Kevin's mother Patti, 55, described the paraphernalia bought from the website as 'death in a bag'.

The website has since been closed but she asked the coroner to write to David Cameron urging him to ban similar websites still selling 'encyclopaedias to end life'.

She told the inquest of her heartache when she realised that a brown paper jiffy bag that she took delivery of for her son contained the tools for his death.

At the time she thought it had contained cooking equipment.

Sitting next to her husband Tom, 65, she said: 'I believe there is sufficient evidence to suggest that on the balance of probabilities Kevin committed suicide.

'We have the email exchanges ordering the kit and arranging payment.

Budding chef: Jamie Oliver with Kevin Boyle at the restaurant in Hoxton

'Thomas took delivery of the kit, I saw the brown Jiffy bag I believe contain the kit addressed to Kevin, that bore no postage details or delivery identification, delivered by an unidentifiable courier.

'Paraphernalia consistent with these items was retrieved by officers inspecting the site where Kevin was discovered.'

The site Kevin bought the kit from promised painless 'deliverance' and required no proof of terminal illness or psychiatric assessment, just a photocopy of Kevin's passport.

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Mrs Boyle asked the coroner to take the unusual step of writing to the government to take action in what is known as a Rule 43 letter because she wanted to lower the number of suicides in the UK.

She said: 'Currently assisted suicide websites have thousands of pages that offer advice, instruction and the whole wherewithal, almost like an encyclopaedia of methodologies to end life.

'A young person who is overwhelmed by life and in a state of mental distress does not have the ability to be able to look back and say "I've come that far and I'm stronger for it.

Patti Boyle has called on the government to ban websites which promote ways of committing suicide

'What we want and seek the coroner's assistance with is to bring the problems of these websites back to government because we believe that the internet service providers should be held responsible for the material they have displayed and they are penalised for it.

'We also want legislation that bans the UK-based sites.'

So-called suicide websites have been linked to dozens of deaths in Britain over the last ten years.

Promoting suicide is already outlawed under the 1961 Suicide Act, but this has never been used to prosecute a website operator.

Happy memories: Kevin (centre) with brother Joseph and father Tom

Mrs Boyle told the inquest it was Kevin's 'dream come true' to work for Jamie Oliver and that the Channel 4 chef had been a constant support for the family.

And she described how the Fifteen restaurant had helped keep her troubled son alive.

She said: 'He wanted to be a chef from the age of four years old. When he was selected for Jamie Oliver's it was all his dreams come true.

Full of promise: Kevin as a toddler

'Jamie Oliver and his team and everybody at Fifteen have been constant in their support for us as a family.

'Fifteen is like a lighthouse in a place of darkness, it offers people hope. When you are part of the Fifteen family they never let you go.

'Because of Fifteen I can happily say that as a family we had our son for ten years longer than we otherwise would have done.'

No cause of death could be given because Kevin's body was in such a badly decomposed state when it was found, and the coroner returned an open verdict.

Coroner Dr Roy Palmer warned of the difficulties in taming the internet but said he would write to the Prime Minister to ask him to look at the issue.

He said: 'At the moment the government has not yet found a way of controlling the internet but I can understand your concerns and I'm proposing that I should write.

'I hope some good will come of it but the internet is a creature that has grown and grown out of control. I don't l know what is to be done but one should keep trying I'm sure.

'I'm very, very sorry you lost Kevin in such circumstances. We can't give you complete answers because of the time delay and state of the body.

'The likelihood is that he probably did take his own life but I have to be sure beyond reasonable doubt and I can't be.'

For confidential support call the Samaritans in the UK on 08457 90 90 90, visit a local Samaritans branch or click here for details





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