A Leeds man has been sentenced to prison for persuading a vulnerable 21-year-old man in the United States to end his own life. Identified as Dylan Phelan, 21, from the Churwell region of Morley, he had engaged in conversations with Travis Dyer, an American citizen facing mental health challenges, over the online platform Discord for several months.
During a brief video call on October 30, 2024, Phelan and two other individuals in the US, known as Mads and Rob, goaded Dyer to commit suicide, with Phelan audibly laughing in the background after Dyer took his own life, as disclosed in Leeds Crown Court.
The trio, part of a private Discord server named ‘Recovery4all’ supposedly focused on mental health discussions, instead exhibited cruel behavior towards Dyer. The court heard that Dyer was manipulated into depleting his finances on substances and marking his skin with the initials of the perpetrators, including Phelan’s name etched on his hip.
Prosecutor Andrew Petterson described the situation as a prolonged act of cruelty that led to Travis Dyer being coerced into suicide. Post-mortem results revealed that Dyer succumbed to a gunshot wound.
Following a tip-off from a woman whom Phelan had met online and subsequently in person, Phelan was apprehended by his parents and taken to Elland Police Station. He confessed to aiding the suicide of an individual in Louisiana, referred to as ‘Tyler’. Subsequently, Phelan’s electronic devices were seized, leading to the discovery of illicit material that led to additional charges.
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