Sister Sues Nbc After Suspected Paedophilia's Suicide on Tv Show

The sister of a former district attorney who killed himself as police went to arrest him for suspected pedophilia has sued the television company that was filming the raid as part of a reality television show.

Louis William Conradt, 56, shot himself last November as police officers arrived at his door in Terrell, a suburb of Dallas, Texas, accompanied by cameras of NBC's To Catch a Predator. The former prosecutor was said by NBC to have contacted a decoy posing as a 13-year-old boy.

His sister, Patricia Conradt, has sued for $105m (£51m), alleging that the TV company took over the duties of police but then failed to protect her brother, known as Bill. "Having trespassed and invaded upon Bill's property to broadcast a spectacle to millions, the defendant took no more steps toward protecting him than are received by a gladiator or bull."

The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, claims that when Conradt shot himself, a police officer at the scene turned to a producer and said: "That'll make good TV."

NBC said that it would defend itself vigorously against claims that it said were "completely without merit".

The Dateline show works in tandem with a website that is a self-appointed scourge of suspected paedophiles. Perverted Justice lures suspects into "sting houses" by posing as children on the internet. When the suspects arrive they are filmed as they are arrested.

In the Texas sting involving Conradt, 24 men turned up at the venue and were arrested. Conradt did not and police went to his house.

In May the district attorney in charge of the case dropped all charges against the 24, saying that in several cases neither police nor NBC could guarantee that the logs of the internet chats were authentic.

This is the second lawsuit on NBC's desk for the Predator series. A former producer, Marsha Bartel, is suing the network in Illinois, alleging she was sacked after she complained about the show's ethical approach.