A “troubled” 16-year-old boy from Greater Manchester who ordered a deadly toxin from the dark web has walked free from court after claiming he tried to buy the poison to kill himself.

The teenager, who is from the Tameside area, was given a 12-month referral order on Monday after pleading guilty earlier this month to attempting to acquire a biological toxin or agent contrary to the Criminal Attempts Act 1981 and section one of the Biological Weapons Act 1974.



The basis of this plea was that he attempted to purchase abrin with a view to killing himself, Greater Manchester police said.

The boy was caught after undercover law enforcement officers communicated with him covertly via the dark web, also known as the “deep web”, software which allows users to surf the internet with relative anonymity, beyond the reach of search engines.

I would urge parents ​​to keep a very close eye on what their children are doing DS Russell Stubbs

During the conversation he expressed an interest in purchasing abrin, which is considered 30 times more toxic than ricin. During these communications, the teenager showed awareness of the drug’s toxicity and the potential for it to be used to cause considerable harm, according to the north-west counter-terrorism unit, which was tipped off by the undercover officers on 23 January.

On 6 February 2015, the 16-year-old attempted to place an order with the officers posing as sellers of the toxin.

On 16 February, warrants were executed at two addresses in Greater Manchester and the boy was arrested. A 16-year-old girl was also arrested as part of the investigation but later released without charge.

After the sentencing DS Russell Stubbs said: “The teenager at the centre of this investigation is clearly a vulnerable, troubled young man and I hope now that this case is concluded he can get the help and support he needs to turn his life around.

“Thanks to the vigilance of officers from a number of different law enforcement agencies, we were able to intervene before this young man did get hold of such a deadly substance from a genuine seller.

“I want to reassure our communities that the north-west counter-terrorism unit and local police are well aware of the potential dangers associated with internet activity on the ‘dark web’. Law enforcement agencies use a range of investigative techniques to monitor and police unlawful internet activity.

“I would also urge parents to keep a very close eye on what their children are doing. Security measures are available to block certain sites and if you suspect your child is spending too much time on the internet and you notice sudden changes in their behaviour then please report it. As in this case, the sooner we are able to identify someone either at risk or using the ‘dark web’ for criminal purposes the better chance we have to consider appropriate intervention options.”