] When a 14-year-old British boy was savagely stabbed, no
] one could have imagined the bizarre chat-room fantasy
] world that lay behind the attack. A story of a near-fatal
] Internet attraction
,,,
] Four months after the stabbing, the charges were amended.
] Mark was still accused of attempted murder, to which he
] ultimately pleaded guilty. But this time John also was
] charged—with inciting murder. His own murder. This is a
] legal novelty in Britain, and very likely throughout the
] world. "Yes, I'm not aware of any other case where
] somebody's incited somebody to murder themselves,"
] Nicholas Clarke, the prosecutor, declares in his
] Manchester office, each syllable clipped with derision.
] It is clear he doesn't have much sympathy for the boy
] whose brush with death prompted the unprecedented charge.
] "I would say, of the two teenagers, John was the more
] wicked and more criminally culpable."