Petitions

Baroness Ritchie of Downpatrick Excerpts

Wednesday 5th December 2012 Commons Chamber

[Ms Margaret Ritchie (South Down) (SDLP)]

I wish to present a petition of 2,079 signatures on behalf of the members of Families Against Suicide Today. I should like to note that Burren is near Warrenpoint in County Down in the constituency of South Down.

The petition states:

The Petition of Members of FAST (Families Against Suicide Today),

Declares that FAST was brought together by Patti Boyle whose son Kevin left home at 12.30pm on 12 October 2011 after telling her he was going to work and that 101 days later his remains were found in a local area known as ‘Happy Valley’; further that Kevin had purchased an online suicide kit to complete his death from a website which described death as ‘Deliverance’; further that the Petitioners marched on 30 August 2012 from Kevin’s grave in Burren, Co. Down to Westminster to highlight Article 2 of the Human Rights Act 1998 the ‘Right to Life’.

The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to close down websites assisting suicide and to prosecute those who commit the crime of aiding and abetting suicide.

And the Petitioners remain, etc.

[P001142]