British man jailed for encouraging American to commit suicide during video call

Dylan Phelan, a 21-year-old from Morley, West Yorkshire, was jailed for six years and four months after pleading guilty to intentionally encouraging the suicide of Travis Dyer, a vulnerable 21-year-old from Louisiana, during a live video call on Discord in October 2024. Phelan and two other men — identified only as Mads and Rob — were members of a private Discord server called 'Recovery4all', which prosecutors described as a forum that ironically targeted rather than supported those struggling with mental health. Over months, the group groomed Dyer, who had endured the drowning deaths of his mother and sister, convincing him to carve their initials into his skin and spend his money on drugs and alcohol. During the final call, Phelan repeatedly urged Dyer to 'pull the trigger' and laughed when he did; he later kept a recording of the suicide on his computer. Phelan was brought to police by his parents after a woman he had confided in alerted them, and he subsequently confessed at Elland Road police station. Sentencing judge Mr Justice Cotter described the offence as a 'campaign of cruelty' driven by Phelan's 'morbid curiosity' and desire for control, and unusually urged anyone with information about the other participants — one of whom he described as 'a very real danger to vulnerable people online' — to contact US authorities. Phelan also received a 10-year sexual harm prevention order after admitting possession of extreme pornography and making an indecent image of a child.