A suicidal man in Oxfordshire was saved by police after a tip-off from a woman 10,000 miles away in Australia. The 23-year-old man from Wantage posted messages in an internet chat room with the words: "I will kill myself in 15 minutes".
The woman spoke to the man over the phone. She contacted a friend in Cambridge who managed to discover the man's postcode. Police found the man with a cord around his neck, which was cut by an officer.
The Australian woman had made contact with the man in a chat room but became alarmed when he left messages saying he would take his own life. By exchanging messages she managed to get his phone number and the pair had a brief conversation before the man hung up. The woman then called a friend in Cambridge.
The friend, who wanted to be known only as Andy, said: "I rang him and spoke to him. He was very depressed and I didn't really know what to do. While I was on the phone to the police, he texted me his postcode. I then passed that to Cambridgeshire Police."
Police have praised Andy's quick thinking following the incident on the 9 June.
Chief Inspector Andy Boyd, the area commander for Wantage, said: "This is an excellent example of how modern technology can and does assist the police in reducing crime and saving peoples' lives."
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