THE bizarre case of a teenager who planned his own death by using the internet to fool his best friend into trying to kill him is the subject of a TV drama tonight.



The incident involved a 14-year-old boy becoming the victim of a near-fatal stabbing in Goose Green, Altrincham, in July 2003 which turned out to have been committed by his 16-year-old best friend.



As police investigations into the attack continued, it became apparent that it had all been engineered by the victim. He had used the internet and a network of imaginary people to convince his best pal to kill him.



The case is the basis of Kill Me if You Can a 50-minute drama-documentary being shown on Channel 4 at 10pm. It is one of four films created for the channel's "Psycho" series which examines the dark side of the human mind and its role in strange criminal acts.



Fiction



Kill Me If You Can will show how the gifted teenager, known in court as John, recruited his friend - known as Mark - to kill him. It features interviews with barristers in the case and uses actors to play the boys.



At the time of the Manchester Crown Court case into the extraordinary crime, Judge David Maddison said: "Skilled writers of fiction would struggle to conjure up a plot such as this. What is staggering is that this has arisen out of the activities of a 14-year-old boy.''



Police found John close to death in an alley with Mark close by and their investigations took them into one of the most disturbing inquiries they had ever been involved in. They seized both boys' computers and realised the pair had spent a lot of time in online chatrooms before meeting face-to-face and becoming friends.



Officers discovered Mark had been in online discussions with a number of different characters, who told tales of rape, kidnap and torture.

'Spymistress'



One eight-hour online conversation Mark had was with someone claiming to be a 42-year-old female British intelligence agent. The "spymistress" told Mark that John had an incurable brain tumour and had only months to live, so killing him quickly would be the humane thing to do. She also told him that he could have a job in the intelligence services and sex with her if he carried out the killing.



Mark then tried to kill his close friend with a six-inch kitchen knife. He told police the attack had been carried out by a stranger. A week after the murder attempt, John confirmed police suspicions about the attack.



He eventually admitted he had created the characters talking to Mark online, including the spymistress, and added how his friend kept saying "Trust me'' and "I love you'' while trying to kill him.



At Manchester Crown Court, John pleaded guilty to a charge of incitement to commit his own murder. Mark admitted attempted murder. Both were placed under supervision orders and told not to contact each other again.