Man who urged vulnerable woman to kill herself so he could take pleasure watching is jailed

A man who urged a vulnerable woman to self-harm and end her own life for his own warped sexual thrills has been jailed for nine years.

Tyler Webb, 23, repeatedly told his victim to kill herself during weeks of what she called ‘calculated psychological violence’ because he wanted to watch her die on a video call.

He became the first person in the country to be charged with encouraging serious self-harm online under Section 184 of the Online Safety Act 2023.

Webb pleaded guilty in May to that charge and a separate charge of encouraging suicide between June 22 and July 11 last year.

Judge Timothy Spencer KC imposed a hybrid order, meaning he will begin his sentence in hospital until he is deemed fit for prison.

He told Webb: ‘Your persuasion extended over a substantial period of time. The two of you were not in any sort of suicide pact – it was always you hang yourself for my pleasure.’

Webb, with long black hair and wearing a blue t-shirt, sat in the dock with his head bowed down and hands clasped over his ears before hiding underneath his chair, where he remained for most of the hearing.

The victim, who cannot be named, contacted police in July 2024 because she feared Webb would encourage someone else to harm themselves after he asked her to ‘sacrifice’ herself.

She said Webb put her through a period of ‘calculated psychological violence’ because he wanted to watch her kill herself.

She met Webb on a Reddit forum where users shared mental health support. They then began to video call on the messaging app Telegram and their conversations turned ‘dark in nature’.

Prosecutor Louise Oakley told the Leicester Crown Court when Webb encouraged her to harm herself, ‘in [the victim’s] words, he loved it. Tyler Webb told her it turned him on.

‘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.’

Webb once watched the woman make an attempt on her life and when it failed, told her to try again, the court heard.

Ms Oakley told the court Webb’s offending was pre-meditated, persistent and extensive: ‘He pressurised her and was at times unpleasant.

‘Importantly, it appears he was sexually motivated and genuinely wanted to see her die. He knew her vulnerabilities, her previous traumas and knew she had previously attempted suicide.’

The prosecutor also said he refused to turn his own camera on during the video calls, suggesting he knew that ‘what he was doing was wrong and he was in effect looking out for himself, not her’.

In a victim impact statement read to the court by the prosecutor, the woman wrote: ‘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.’

Defence barrister Joey Kwong said Webb was struggling with his own mental health and ‘wrongly he adopted such warped behaviour and distorted thinking’ from content he saw online.

The court heard Web”s several diagnoses – including autistic spectrum disorder (ASD), obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and anxiety and depressive disorders – had a ‘significant impact on his life’.

Dr Ajith Gurusinghe, a clinician who has been treating Webb in hospital because he is ‘unable to cope in the prison regime’, said the defendant had shown ‘some remorse but not completely’.

Webb’s Reddit profile was identified and a review of the account revealed several female anime or gaming characters in various erotic poses with fatal injuries.

Detective Constable Lauren Hampton, of Leicester 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.’

Alex Johnson, a specialist crown prosecutor in the Special Crime Division of the CPS, said: ‘Tyler Webb contacted a vulnerable woman online and encouraged her to commit serious self-harm and to end her life by hanging.

‘He knew she was vulnerable and would act on his requests but went ahead with his persistent requests knowing she may well die.

‘Fortunately, his repeated and insistent suggestions did not result in a death.’

Samaritans are here to listen, day or night, 365 days a year. You can call them for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit samaritans.org for more information.

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