Man Accused Of Grooming 11-Year-Old Boy On Facebook Kills Himself During Trial

A man accused of grooming an 11-year-old boy and sending him indecent images of children has killed himself during his trial .

James Strike, 46, stood accused of charges related to indecent images charges between June 2009 and June 2016.

He was also charged with threatening or abusive behaviour towards the schoolboy via Facebook between February and March 2014 by threatening him with violence.

But the wheelchair bound man, from Springburn, Glasgow, committed suicide before his trial was over, reports the Daily Record .


His alleged victim, now 14, claimed he received messages from a person called Steven Ferris.

He was sent threats "I'm coming for you" and "I'm your judge and jury and you're f****** guilty".

But before the jury were asked to make a decision, the trial came to a halt after Strike took his own life.

Sheriff Martin Jones QC told jurors at Glasgow Sheriff Court of his death and formally brought proceedings to an end.

During the trial the court heard the teenager received a number of messages from a Facebook account called Steven Ferris.



The court heard the boy was threatened with violence that the person told him "I'm coming for you, see you soon".

Others messages including "talk to me now before I turn on you" were sent.

As well as "I might be outside with my boys waiting for you".

The court heard the youngster from South Yorkshire was probed about his sexuality and that the messages were sent all times of the day and night.

The boy's terrified mother described "feeling sick" when she found the string of threats from the Facebook account.

She told the court "I felt like a failure as a parent”.

Her son was also sent indecent images of children on the social media site.

A cyber crime expert who analysed Strike's laptop told the court of repeated access to a website known to her to contain indecent images of children.

Agreed evidence read to the jury included that the laptop had logged into the Facebook site with the name Steven Ferris and visited the teenager's page on numerous occasions.

And, the images sent to the schoolboy were also on the device.

The court heard evidence that Strike confessed to a doctor that he "had done it" and was sorry for what he put his family through.

Jurors heard he admitted having a sexual interest in children and felt compelled to view images then retracted what he said days later.

Strike continued to deny the charges when he went on trial.