Wrexham Man Sentenced to 14 Years for Chemical Sales Linked to Suicides

A 33-year-old man from Wrexham has been sentenced to 14 years in prison for selling a lethal chemical online to vulnerable individuals, an act that prosecutors linked to two deaths by suicide. Miles Cross, a former soldier who served six years in the Army including a tour in Afghanistan, pleaded guilty last November to four counts of intentionally encouraging or assisting the suicide of another person under the Suicide Act 1961. The case, heard at Mold Crown Court, marks what authorities described as the first prosecution of its kind in the United Kingdom.

Cross began his activities in July 2024 by joining an online discussion forum under a pseudonym, where he targeted people expressing suicidal thoughts. He posted a QR code that directed potential buyers to order the substance directly from him, with payments of £100 each transferred to a new Monzo bank account he had set up. Over the following weeks, he sourced the chemical from abroad, packaged it in zip foil bags, and mailed it to four recipients between August and September 2024. Police later determined through financial records and device analysis that he had received payments from these individuals, including one from...