A senior coroner has issued a warning following the deaths of 45 people who bought a poisonous substance online.
Timothy Brennand said a further 40 people were known to have purchased the chemical 'with a view to having the means to use this method to end their life in circumstances' - and warned online forums were promoting its use.
In a series of Prevention of Future Deaths reports concerning a 'cluster' of eight deaths in his region, the Manchester West coroner did not identify the poison except to say it is a food preservative which can be used in meat curing.
But he also warned it was also a 'reportable poison as well as a reportable explosives precursor'.
The deaths Mr Brennand investigated included that of Kelly Walsh, a 45-year-old businesswoman who was the girlfriend of ex-footballer Andy Woodward, the first victim to waive his anonymity to publicly accuse the late paedophile football coach Barry Bennell of child sexual abuse.
