LIKE many other parents, once his son had turned 18, Paul Kelly and his wife went on holiday on their own for the first time.
Their son Simon was looking forward to starting university - he had a wonderful family, great friends and a girlfriend. To all those around him he seemed happy, vibrant, and full of life.
But when they returned he was dead.
Simon had everything to live for, but committed suicide after chatting to strangers on the Internet about taking his own life.
Mr Kelly said: "My wife and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and had decided to go away on holiday without Simon for the first time. He was 18 and we knew he didn't want to do the same thing as us oldies any more.
"We left him at home, with his best friend staying with him for company, and by all accounts they had a great time of it.
"But when we got off the plane at Heathrow on our way home we heard our names being called over the tannoy. Even the,n we didn't think anything of it. Simon was due to be picking us up at the airport and I remember we even joked that he had probably gone to the wrong airport.
"It was only when they started rushing us through customs and ushering us into a little room that we - well I - began to think something was wrong.
"Our eldest son - Simon's oldest brother - was there. He had come to meet us to tell us the unthinkable. Simon was dead."
Mr Kelly said the news in 2001 came as a bolt from the blue to everybody who knew his son.
Since Simon's death he has worked with the group Papyrus which is campaigning to get suicide websites banned.
"His best friend, his girlfriend, us - none of us had an inkling. It was only after he died that we found postings on his website and chatroom conversations on suicide websites where he told others of his intention to take his own life," said Mr Kelly.
The content of the postings from the chatroom showed others who had logged on were clearly egging his son on.
In his son's final posting, Simon admitted that on the surface he had everything - lots of friends, family and a great future at university in Manchester. There was nothing troubling him and he had no worries.
There was just something - some sort of "chemical reaction in the brain" - which left him with an empty feeling that he had nothing to live for.
Mr Kelly added: "The trouble is that in these chatrooms people talk about suicide to such an extent that it normalises it.
"If people went to the Samaritans or somewhere else, and if they weren't given explicit instructions on how to go about killing themselves, things might turn out differently.
"Suicide is a very complicated business, but research has shown that one of the factors that affects whether people go through with it or not is if they have access to information on how to actually do it."
Governments worldwide are slowly beginning to take action to ban suicide websites, which are blamed for more than 100 deaths. But experts say it will be almost impossible to eradicate them.
Australia recently passed a law making it illegal to use the internet to encourage people to commit suicide, while in Japan, which has the world's highest suicide rate, police have called on Internet service providers to give them tip-offs when they see messages suggesting an imminent suicide.
Mr Kelly, from Cornwall, said he believes the sites will eventually be outlawed in Britain, but there is a long fight ahead.
"Depression does go and suicidal thoughts do pass. People can, and do, recover. But you have to give them a chance to get better," he said.
"That's why we have to do everything we can to ban these sites."
The Yorkshire Post is backing Doncaster mother Liz Taylor's battle to get suicide websites banned. Her 17-year-old daughter Carina Stephenson killed herself after using suicide websites. Ms Taylor is collecting a petition, but you can also add your name and views to our online petition on www.yorkshireposttoday.co.uk
kate.o'hara@ypn.co.uk 18.10.05


Detached air has chilling impact
IN an effort to make other parents aware of the risks of suicide sites, Paul Kelly has revealed a transcript of the conversation his son, signing as SJK, had in a suicide chatroom. Featuring people signing on as "Sophie", "gp9", "gpO", "jenwolf" and "thejynx", it offers a chilling insight into the lack of concern directed at would-be suicides:

Sophie: Hi, SJK. How are you?
SJK: Feeling pretty good. In an hour and a half all the pain will go away.

Twenty minutes later the internet conversation takes a bizarre turn:

SJK: I like Chinese.
gp9: I'll tell you folks how to make that one day.
SJK: How about now?
gp9: What's the rush?
SJK: Well, I die in an hour. So there is a sort of rush.
gp9: Cornflour, egg and chicken breast. You slice the chicken into bite-sized bits then add spices of your choice.
Sophie: Still feeling good SJK? Why don't you go do something exciting for your last hour?
gpO: Go to the beach.
Jenwolf: He's only got 45 minutes left.
Sophie: Listen to your favourite song.
gpO: Eat a vindaloo.

Shortly...

SJK: See you the other side.
Jenwolf: Happy bus ride... hope it works.


Help At Hand
Anyone affected by issues in this report can ring HOPELine UK on 0870 170 4000. For people who may have a depressed or suicidal young person and are desperate for help there are also details on website www.papyrus-uk.org.
24-hour support is available through the Samaritans at jo@samaritans.org or by phoning the organisation on 08457 90 90 90.