Man in court over video call suicide encouragement

A man has appeared in a UK court charged with encouraging a 21-year-old US citizen to shoot himself while on a video call.

Dylan Phelan, 21, from Morley, is charged with encouraging the suicide of Travis Dyer in Louisiana on October 30 2024.

During the hearing at Leeds Magistrates' Court, he was not asked to officially enter a plea to the charge and was told because it was an indictable offence, it would be sent to the crown court.

Meanwhile, he pleaded guilty to one count of making an indecent image of a child in November 2024 and three counts of possessing extreme pornography in March 2025.

Alex Johnson, prosecuting, said: "(Phelan) faces an indictable only charge relating to encouragement, we say, that the defendant gave to a man to commit suicide using the Discord platform."

Discord, which has about 150 million users each month, is a an online communication platform which allows users to interact through text, voice, and video.

Phelan was given conditional bail until his next appearance at Leeds Crown Court on 11 March.

According to an obituary posted by the Samart funeral home, Dyer lived in Theriot, Louisiana.

It is understood he lost his mother and younger sister in a crash 10 years before his own death.

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In August 2014, local newspaper Houma Today reported that Ashley Ann Worrell, 31, and her three-year-old daughter Delaney Rae Lirette died after their pick-up overturned into a canal.

An obituary posted on the funeral home website after Dyer's death said he was "sweet, gentle, quiet, kind and very caring to those he loved".

It read: "Travis will forever be loved and terribly missed by all of those who have known him."

A tribute posted by his great-grandmother said: "Travie, We miss you. Needless to say, I'm so beside myself. I don't know what to say or how to say it.

"Sweetheart, you were so unfortunate to have had so many tragedies in your young life. It was totally unfair for you."

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