It’s like I murdered you
Message from woman, 22, accused of helping her troubled young friend kill herself by buying helium canisters from Asda
AN ‘ infatuated’ woman helped her best friend kill herself by buying the canisters of helium she used to commit suicide, a court heard yesterday.
Amelia Caller, 22, who is one of the youngest Britons to be charged with assisted suicide, t hen texted 21-year-old Emma Crossman: ‘I feel like I have murdered you.’
Unemployed Caller ordered two balloon kits online from Asda and had them delivered to Miss Crossman in an ‘act of misguided loyalty’.
Prosecutor Mark McKone said Caller ‘would do anything’ for Miss Crossman, telling Lincoln Crown Court they exchanged text and Facebook messages in which they discussed suicide in the days before her death, with Miss Crossman saying she was going to lie on train tracks to ‘get it over with’.
Caller knew her friend planned to kill herself and they even texted each other about sharing a ‘final day out’.
In messages read out to the court, Caller said: ‘I keep thinking what kind of mate murders their best mate.’ In the
‘Goodbye for now,
I love you all’
last messages, Miss Crossman says she is scared, adding: ‘Tell me it will be ok.’
Caller replies: ‘Oh dear, sounds really tough. It will be fine.’
Moments before she died, Miss Crossman texted: ‘Tell me it will be fine and if I don’t reply it is because I’m dead.’
Caller found Miss Crossman’s body at her home in Sleaford, Lincolnshire, next to a suicide note saying: ‘Goodbye for now everyone, I love you all.’
Mr McKone said Miss Crossman had a history of depression, self harm and overdoses, and people had not taken earlier threats to kill herself seriously.
He said she had reacted badly to split- ting from her 56-year- old boyfriend of two years, tattoo artist Adrian Kemp, in December 2013 – weeks before she died on January 15, 2014.
Mr Kemp had confiscated the first helium canister bought by Caller for Miss Crossman just days before she ended her life using the second canister.
Mr McKone told the jury that while many elements of the case were not in dispute, Caller denied guilt over Miss Crossman’s death because ‘she did not believe her friend would kill herself and therefore she did not intend to assist her to commit suicide’.
He added: ‘Amelia was obsessed with Emma and they spent a lot of time together. Amelia accepts her friend told her she wanted to commit suicide, she accepts her friend asked her to buy helium and then bought helium.
‘ The first set was taken off Emma so Amelia made a second online order along with an order for alcohol. They were delivered on January 14.
‘Amelia found Emma dead on January 15 ... with alcohol nearby and a suicide note. At the heart of the case is whether Amelia Caller providing the canister with the intent to encourage or attempt suicide.
‘You can be sure from these text messages that Miss Caller, in buying the helium and sending these texts, i ntended to help Miss Crossman commit suicide. We accept it is not what she wanted but through misguided loyalty she intended to help Emma carry out her wishes.’
Miss Crossman’s mother, Sharon Parr, told the court that her daughter had been bullied at school and started self-harming at 12, when she was referred to the local mental health service.
She said Miss Crossman had ‘moments of depression’ and described an overdose of the painkiller cocodamol in June 2013 as a cry for attention.
But she added: ‘Not in a million years did Emma want to die.’
She said her daughter was still in l ove with Mr Kemp, and described Caller – known as Milly, of Great Hale, as being ‘ very loving’ towards her daughter.
She added: ‘All Emma had to do was click her fingers and Milly would come running. It was a bit like a dog.’
Caller, from Heckington, Lincolnshire, denies assisting a suicide. The court heard she was unable to explain to detectives why she did not warn anyone that Miss Crossman was threatening to kill herself.
The case continues. ÷ For confidential support, call the Samaritans on 08457 909090, visit a local Samaritans branch or go to www.samaritans.org.