A TikTok star who took her own life after being sent a “suicide kit” was in contact with police on the day she died, an inquest hearing has been told.
Imogen Nunn, 25, known as Deaf Immy on the social media platform where she highlighted hearing and mental health issues, died on New Year’s Day, January 2023.
The sudden death of the popular influencer sparked an outpouring of grief among her 780,000 followers.
But it later emerged that she was allegedly supplied with a chemical by chef Kenneth Law, 57, who is facing trial in Canada next year in relation to a number of deaths.
She had bought the chemical online after contacting him and later took the lethal substance.
A pre-inquest hearing in Horsham yesterday (Wednesday 18 September) was told that the influencer, who lived in Brighton, had been spoken to by a police officer on the day she died.
She had a phone conversation with a police constable before going on to take her own life.
Miss Nunn had previously been visited in her flat by officers from Sussex Police in November 2022.
The visit came after she had confessed to her community care worker that she had bought a product – classed as a “reportable substance” in the UK – and planned to use it to end her life.
Sussex Police were contacted and visited her flat. But Miss Nunn denied buying it and they took no action.
Her parents, Ray and Louise Nunn, of Bognor, only learnt about this visit months after her death and are furious that an opportunity to save her life was missed.
The coroner, Penelope Schofield, told the pre-inquest hearing: “PC Norman spoke to her on January 1.”
Details of the phone call were not made public but will be made the subject of a full inquest.
It was feared the inquest into her tragic death would not go ahead for years because of legal proceedings against Mr Law in Canada.
But both the Crown Prosecution Service and the police have ruled the scope of the inquest would not affect the outcome of criminal proceedings.
The coroner said: “The CPS and police are not making a formal request for this matter to be suspended. The inquest can answer the statutory questions without awaiting a prosecution in Canada.”
Miss Nunn, a photographer, was born deaf but led an independent life with the help of her assistance dog Whitney.
As a successful influencer, she earned money through endorsement deals with companies that provide support within the deaf community.
But she faced challenges which contributed to her fluctuating mental health, including being wrongly refused entry to restaurants because of her dog, plus a lack of sign language users.
She is understood to have obtained the substance used to end her life from Law’s online business. The website has since been taken down.
Law, a former aerospace engineer, from Ontario, is alleged to have run an online business sending kits to hundreds of vulnerable young people worldwide, including in Britain.
They have been linked to at least four other UK deaths and one in the US. He is scheduled to face trial in the autumn next year charged with second-degree murder.
In October 2021, Surrey Police allegedly tried to contact Law after the death of a law student, Tom Parfett, 22, from Maidenhead.
In 2022, UK police again allegedly failed to take action after the death of another of Law’s customers, 23-year-old Neha Raju, from Guildford.
Both allegedly bought the same lethal substance from Law’s company but police did not pursue charges.
A full inquest into the death of Miss Nunn is due to take place next March.
