Bradford man on trial after suicide of teenage girl

A BRADFORD man who sent messages to a teenage girl who was seeking a suicide pact has gone on trial charged with encouraging or assisting her suicide.

Christopher Ballard sent a flurry of emails and WhatsApp messages to 14-year-old Gina Van Houten after she posted her intention to take her own life on the ForumJar site.

Gina, who lived in Amsterdam, posted her first message on February 15, 2018.

Under the title “Suicide pact Netherlands” it read: “Hi, my name is Gina. I am a 14-year-old female and I am planning to commit suicide. I would rather do it with someone else than alone. I am asking if you are willing to do it with me.”

Ballard, 42, of Clayton Road, Bradford, a shift worker at a plastics factory who claimed he worked in a hospital and had access to drugs, was in contact with the teenager between February 17 and March 3.

Gina was found dead in the bathroom of her home by her mother on March 28.

A “farewell letter” was discovered on her mobile phone. It read: “I am not here anymore when you read this. I want everyone to know that it was my own will.

“I know there is always pain for those left behind. I just do not want to live anymore.

“It’s not that I have had a terrible life. I want to know what it’s like to be dead.

“Sorry once again. Thanks for everything. Love Gina.”

Bradford Crown Court

Prosecutor James Bourne-Arton KC told Bradford Crown Court that the case against Ballard focused on the messages that he sent, which were capable of encouraging Gina to die by suicide and that that was what the sender intended.

He said she accepted what Ballard told her as genuine – that he too wanted to die by suicide – as opposed to fantasy role-play.

The court heard that Ballard told Gina he worked in a hospital and could access “strong medicines” that cause sleepiness. He also suggested methods of dying by suicide, discussed flying to Holland, and whether Gina could meet him at the airport.

Their messages also involved her friends with whom she had a “suicide pact” WhatsApp group. In one message Gina wrote that she had had enough of life “and want to sleep forever”.

In another chat she mentioned considering suicide and made reference to “Chris from the UK who also wants to die". 

She described him as a doctor who worked in Leeds.

Many of the messages, as well as Gina’s original suicide pact post, flight schedules between Leeds Bradford Airport and Amsterdam International Airport, and a photograph of Ballard, were found in a folder on her phone after her death.

His first message to Gina, sent at 2.49am on February 17, told her he was “very much after same”.

In another he asked “Have you methods in mind? I have got ideas” and “I think it’s best to think of a possible place and methods before I come there.”

In response to his suggested methods Gina wrote: “I like those methods too.”

He suggested places to carry out the suicide pact and suggested Gina could use a bus or train to reach them. He said where the items needed to carry out the pact could be bought.

But Gina wanted to know more about Ballard, observing; “We are going to die together” but that they knew hardly anything about each other.

At that point, she said she was just 14 years old. He told her he was 34. He was in fact 37. And he lied by saying he worked in a hospital in the UK.

He asked Gina for a photograph of herself and asked: “How long have you felt like sleeping forever?”

Gina replied: “About a year.”

Ballard said: “I have wanted [to kill myself] for some time. The more real people the better. It’s harder on your own.”

Following a joint investigation by Dutch authorities and West Yorkshire Police, which traced the number of the phone posting the messages to Ballard, he was arrested at his home on September 28, 2020.

In an interview, he denied knowing Gina and said he had not sent the messages. He said he did not have access to medicines and had no interest in suicide.

The trial continues.

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