Bradford Man Acquitted of Encouraging Teen’s Suicide

A man from Bradford has been cleared of the charge of encouraging the suicide of a 14-year-old girl who ended her life in the Netherlands. Christopher Ballard, 43, had communicated with Gina van Houten via an online chat forum between February and March 2018, and seemingly agreed to a “suicide pact” with her. When Mr. Ballard was apprehended in December 2020, he initially denied having contacted Gina, but later admitted to the communication, stating he believed it was part of a fantasy role-play game. A jury at Bradford Crown Court began their deliberations on Monday and returned the following day to deliver a not guilty verdict for the defendant. Mr. Ballard, a plastics factory worker, sent his last message to Gina on March 4, 2018, and she took her own life just over three weeks later. During his trial, Nick Johnson KC, Mr. Ballard’s defence counsel, argued that his client’s autistic spectrum disorder caused him to perceive Gina’s messages as non-serious and merely part of a “fantasy” game. Mr. Johnson also stated that Gina “was deliberately unclear as to whether she was serious or not.” Mrs. Justice Lambert had emphasized to the jury before they retired to deliberate that Gina’s suicide note was composed on her laptop in January 2018 and that she died by suicide 24 days after her final communication with Mr. Ballard. She told jurors: “We do not know how she was feeling, what made her feel that way, who she had communicated with.” After the jury delivered their verdict, Mr. Ballard was discharged from the dock and left the court with his parents.