It was early one Thursday morning in August two years ago when Shubhreet Singh logged onto a specialist internet forum to chat to strangers online.
Her pseudonym ‘help me rest’ left other users of the platform in no doubt of the 26-year-old’s state of mind.
But one of them, Miles Cross, had little regard for her vulnerability, and instead immediately spotted a business opportunity.
Posing as someone with serious mental health issues himself, and using the name ‘hidden pain’ to hide his true identity, Cross, 33, offered to sell Ms Singh a deadly substance to end her life.
‘Is it safe to order it online,’ she queried.
Cross, a former soldier, reassured Ms Singh by sending her a QR code for payment to his bank account over an encrypted messaging app. Within half an hour she had handed over £100 for 176g of the poisonous chemical.
Tragically, Ms Singh’s body was found 12 days later, in a holiday let she had rented, in Leeds, West Yorkshire, where she ingested the substance and killed herself.
Today – as Cross was jailed for 14 years after pleading guilty to four charges of assisting suicide – it emerged that, in the days before Ms Singh took the drug, she and Cross had swapped a series of disturbing and heartbreaking messages where he encouraged her to end her life.
Cross, 33, admitted four counts of encouraging or assisting suicide
Cross, 33, pictured here in his police mugshot, set up an internet business selling the lethal substance, before targeting vulnerable ‘customers’ in an online forum
Mold Crown Court heard that, during those exchanges Cross sent her a ‘two-day timetable,’ explaining how the poison would take effect and also casually chatted about what food to eat beforehand.
Cross, who had bought the lethal substance in bulk to sell as part of a new money-spinning venture a month earlier, told Ms Singh he was a vegetarian, before asking: ‘Do you have any idea what you are having as like a last meal?’
She replied: ‘I’m also vegetarian, been that way for over a decade. I’m thinking soup. It’ll be faster to digest.’
Cross said: ‘I loved eating meat and fish but it’s just cruel so I stopped myself. I think I will have pasta and wine the day before I go.’
When Ms Singh asked if she could call him to continue their conversation, Cross made his excuses saying he was too tired, before adding later: ‘Are you still set on CTB (cease to breathe) tomorrow.’
Ms Singh took the poison that same day, on September 1, 2024.
Despite realising that she had gone through with her intentions when she failed to reply to further messages the following day, Cross was undeterred.
He continued advertising and selling the poison on the forum, sending a package to another 42-year-old married woman, who can’t be named for legal reasons, 13 days later.
Miles Cross (right) is seen being arrested at his house in Wrexham, North Wales, in January last year
Police managed to track sales of the poison to Miles Cross’ bank account
A special episode of the Mail’s award-winning Trial+ podcast, featuring interviews with police and prosecutors who investigated Miles Cross, will be published on Friday
Fortunately, she flushed the substance, which the Daily Mail is not naming, down the toilet after her mental health improved when she started undergoing counselling. Another recipient, a 34-year-old man, who also ordered the chemical from Cross, did not take the substance and it was later recovered by police.
Sadly, however, a second individual was later found dead having taken poison sold by Cross, who distributed four packages in total over a period of five weeks, in August and September 2024.
The court heard that one of those parcels was intercepted and confiscated by the worried parents of a 20-year-old man, who was suffering mental health problems and had ordered the poison online.
But, in a tragic twist his 53-year-old father, who was also experiencing depression and who insisted on disposing of the substance in the hazardous waste at his place of work, went missing a week later.
His body was not discovered until October, but tests revealed he too had ingested the chemical sent by Cross to end his own life.
In a powerful statement, his wife of almost 24 years said her family had been ‘totally devastated’ and was suffering ‘ongoing trauma’ because of Cross’ actions.
She said the couple’s three sons ‘blamed themselves’ for their father’s suicide and she also suffered daily ‘horrific and vivid nightmares’ because of what had happened to them.
‘I am not the person I was,’ she said.
‘I am anxious in a way that is hard to explain. Days that were once special, like Father’s Day or our anniversary, just remind me of my loss.
‘I have withdrawn from my friends and family because they can’t understand what I’m experiencing. I can’t just put on a brave face, every aspect of my life has changed forever.’
Police investigating her husband’s disappearance quickly realised Cross was their suspect.
Although he used a fake name in the internet chat forum, Cross did little else to cover his tracks.
Officers found his home address listed as the return address on packaging recovered from his victims and screenshots of confirmation of payments linked to a Monzo bank account in Cross’ name.
Despite this, footage released by North Wales police showed a tattooed and bare-chested Cross appearing stunned when they broke down the door to the flat he shared with his girlfriend of 10 years and rescue labrador, in Wrexham, north Wales, in January last year.
Fearful that many more members of the public could be at risk, officers were given special permission to carry out an urgent interview and speak to Cross without a solicitor to try and determine how much of the substance he had distributed.
But arrogant Cross sat with his arms defiantly folded in the interview room and repeatedly denied selling any poison to anyone.
Asked for a list of his ‘customer’ names and their addresses, he told officers: ‘I’m telling you I can’t assist with that…I will not be able to do that.
‘I don’t know who these people are, I can’t answer any of these questions.
‘I haven’t put any kits together and I haven’t distributed these kits to anyone, so I don’t have names and addresses for you.’
But police recovered around 1.3kg of the deadly substance from a suitcase at Cross’ home and found his DNA on containers of the poison.
Officers also discovered that Cross had set up a new business to sell the drug – creating a new e-mail address, bank account and phone number – in June 2024.
He then ordered the poison in bulk, paying around £100 for 1kg tubs from a firm in Greece.
On July 24, alongside a photograph of one of those tubs, Cross posted on the chat forum: ‘Finally acquired everything for (name of poison) method, everything was readily available to me in the UK, other than the (name of poison) itself which took some legwork to source as we live in a f****** nanny state.
‘Safe to say that finally having everything to hand and things being on my terms now is the only bit of relief I have had for a long time.’
Cross, who previously had problems with gambling and alcohol, made his first sale 13 days later.
The substance, which is not illegal to buy, is used as a food preservative and in fertilizers, explosives, glass and pottery colouring.
However, when ingested it starves the body of oxygen, causing heart problems, seizures and, in the most serious cases, death. It has been linked to at least 133 UK fatalities, according to the suicide prevention charity the Molly Rose Foundation.
In November, Cross, who served six years in the Army, finally admitted all four charges of assisting or encouraging suicide.
It is thought to be the first time anyone has been convicted of selling poison to encourage others to kill themselves in the UK.
Cross told probation officers that things he witnessed during a tour of Afghanistan and childhood trauma had damaged his own mental health.
The veteran, who the Mail has learned was abandoned as a baby by his 18-year-old mother, and raised by his maternal grandmother in Essex, claimed he only bought the lethal substance because he wanted to kill himself and help others in the same situation.
The court heard he was found by his girlfriend having taken an overdose of pills when he lost his job, in June 2024, but refused any medical help.
However, Nick Johnson KC, prosecuting, said the Crown did not accept Cross’ claim that he started selling the poison because he had received more than expected from his supplier or that he wanted to help others in a similar situation to himself.
The barrister said the ‘chronology of evidence…clearly shows Cross’ actions were an attempt at a financial venture to make money.’
Jailing Cross, who has previous convictions for drug possession, failure to provide a specimen of breath and battery, Judge Rhys Rowlands agreed.
‘I am quite sure that you were intending to make money out of selling the drug to others,’ the judge said.
‘Your behaviour was far from being altruistic but involved your making money out of the misfortune of others.
‘You were selling to complete strangers in the knowledge that the intention was for (name of poison) to be used to end another’s life.’
Or, in the words of Detective Superintendent Chris Bell, of North Wales Police, Cross was a ‘predator.’
‘He preyed on his victims and exploited them in their most desperate moments,’ the officer said.
