] 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 ] chargedâwith 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." VANITY FAIR : ROUNDTABLE : CONTENT |