An inquest into a woman’s death could take years to conclude, as an investigation into 88 deaths continues, in relation to the supply of unlawful substances in assisting suicide.
Imogen Nunn, 25, took a chemical and died in Brighton, on Sunday 1 January last year.
It has been reported the deaf young woman used her TikTok platform to raise awareness of hearing and mental health issues to her 780,000 followers.
Detective Chief Inspector Craig Emmerson, of Sussex Police, asked the pre-inquest review, held on Friday, for a short postponement.
He said: “I’m assisting the National Crime Agency in relation to unlawful supply of a substance nationally which has national ramifications.
“This case, along with 88 others, is part of that national investigation.
“We’re conscious of the impact on Immy’s family. However, due to scale and breadth of the investigation, the CPS are really in an early stage of considering the facts in all cases.
“The offence being investigated is assisting or encouraging suicide.”
If the CPS formally requests the suspension of the inquest, the coroner is legally bound to do so as investigations continue, the hearing heard.
Coroner Penelope Schofield said: “I am aware the family really want this case to go ahead and proceed without further delay.
“Any delay, if it is suspended, we’re talking for years not months.
“If the CPS decide to go ahead then clearly it’s going to take a long time for criminal charges to be concluded.”
In August last year, the NCA launched an investigation into the deaths of 88 people in the UK who bought products from Canada-based websites that were selling substances to assist suicide.
Canadian Kenneth Law, 57, was arrested in Ontario and later charged with second degree murder and aiding suicide, after allegedly selling lethal substances to people across the world.
A further pre-inquest review into Ms Nunn’s death will be held on Wednesday 4 September.
If assisted dying was permitted in the UK it is possible that many of these deaths would have been prevented with intervention as the desire to die would be dealt with by medical professionals.
There’s an interesting statistic that came out of Digintas where 60% or so of people “green lit” never go through with it.
To me, that makes me think that people might just want to have the option sometimes.
Or maybe they should just make social media a tad more responsible and ban the algorithms from prioritising key words such as self harm or suicide. They should say, for every death caused by content on your sites due to lack of action, £10 Million fine.