Warning: This article contains references to suicide 

A MIDDLE-aged role-player from Bradford who stood trial charged with encouraging or assisting the suicide of a teenage girl has been found not guilty by a jury of eight women and four men at Bradford Crown Court.

Christopher Ballard walked free following the jury’s unanimous verdict, which came after six hours and 28 minutes of deliberations on the fifth day of his trial.

Presiding judge the Honourable Mrs Justice Lambert DBE said: “Mr Ballard can step out of the dock, and you can be discharged.”

Ballard, 43, of Clayton Road, left the court without speaking accompanied by his elderly parents.

He was charged with encouraging or assisting with the suicide of 14-year-old Gina Van Houten, who lived in Amsterdam and died in March 2018.

Ballard got in touch with the teenager when she posted a message on the Forumjar site titled “Suicide pact Netherlands”.

It read: “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.”

Over the course of more than two weeks Ballard, a shift worker in a plastics factory, exchanged a flurry of WhatsApp messages with Gina in which he told her he worked in a hospital and had access to “strong medicines” that cause sleepiness.

He also suggested methods of taking her own life, and that he would travel to the Netherlands to be a partner in the pact.

The 14-year-old and Ballard, who said he was 34, were in contact between February 17 and March 3. Gina was found dead in the bathroom of her home by her mother on March 28.

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 take her own life 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.

Giving evidence in his defence Ballard told the court: “I didn’t think [the suicide pact message] was a genuine request. I thought it was somebody who wanted to role play.”

When quizzed about how he suggested two methods of suicide to Gina, Ballard said he had Googled information about suicides because he was “building up and staying in character”.

And when the pair discussed travelling to Amsterdam and meeting up, Ballard said he never had any intention to travel but added: “It’s important to keep the fantasy real. I get a kick out of it.

“I was just messaging her. I never intended to encourage her or anybody to commit suicide.”

- Whatever you are going through, you don’t have to face it alone. Call Samaritans for free on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or visit www.samaritans.org for more information