A 42-year-old Briton has hanged himself in front of a webcam watched by many users in an internet chatroom. The man identified as Kevin Whitrick, a father of two children. He had separated from his wife Paula, who lives nearby with their children.

According to media reports, one online chatter, in light mood, urged him: "Go on, jump! I'm waiting. Look at him wriggling, he can't even kill himself properly!"

Giving all chatters a huge shock, Whitrick stepped off a chair with a rope round his neck looped over a joist in his flat.

A newspaper quoted an anonymous chatter as saying, "He tied a rope around an uncovered ceiling joist and stood on the chair as he tied the rope around his neck."

"Some of us chatroom users, talking to Kevin over text chat, microphones and video tried to convince him to step down, but others egged him on telling him to get on with it. We just couldn't believe he was doing it - it was surreal."

Police confirmed that Mr Whitrick was using a webcam in an internet chat room at the time of his death. Media reports said it was Britain's first 'online suicide'.