Google advertised poisons on suicide pact website

Advertisements on the suicide discussion pages last week included links to sites offering sulphuric acid and hydrogen sulphide – one of the chemicals used by Yorkshire lorry driver Steve Lumb and Joanne Lee to kill themselves in a fume-filled car in Braintree, Essex, last Monday.

Last night Google said the advertisements had now been taken off and blocked.

Mr Lumb, 35, from Sowerby Bridge, and Miss Lee, 34, met on a Usenet online bulletin board, accessed through Google Groups, which it describes as a forum for "discussions about how to do yourself in".

There have been repeated calls for such sites to be shut down.

Last night the father of an 18-year-old man who killed himself after visiting a suicide website condemned Google for not doing enough to police the web.

Paul Kelly, who campaigns on the issue after the death of his son Simon, 18, said: "I think they (Google) need to take more responsibility for their actions. These sites are life-threatening and they have a moral responsibility to be more careful."

Mr Kelly, of charity Papyrus, wants a crackdown on sites which allow suicide to be promoted and the establishment of an organisation to allow parents to report their concerns.

"Papyrus would like to see an independent body established which would be able to consider complaints about life-threatening sites. This body would have the power to order internet service providers, site owners or search engines to shut the site down or block it.

"If we don't do something people feel they have total freedom to verbally promote suicide."

A spokesman for Google said all advertisements were blocked two days ago when it was alerted to the situation.

The spokesman said its policy was not to show advertisements on "this kind of content" and "our hearts go out to the families involved in this tragedy."

"Google Groups is a platform which people can use to communicate over email and on the web on a vast number of topics, but they shouldn't use it to promote dangerous or illegal activities.

"Where content is illegal we remove it quickly once notified - and we have taken down suicide material from Google Groups.

"Nor do we allow ads on our partner sites which include or link to violent content. We are taking action so that no ads are shown on Google Groups for this type of content."

Miss Lee and Mr Lumb were found last Monday on an industrial estate near her home in Braintree. Mr Lumb had driven 200 miles to meet her and the pair died a short time after meeting for the first time.