Pole dancer who created suicide pact with victim loses appeal
AN ex-pole dancer who encouraged a Walsall postman to commit suicide has failed to get her jail term cut by top judges.
Natasha Gordon, 44, of Paston Ridings, was given a four-year jail term at Leicester Crown Court on January 18.
She was convicted of encouraging the suicide of 31-year-old Matthew Birkinshaw, Lord Justice Treacy told London’s Appeal Court.
Mr Birkinshaw posted a message on an online suicide forum on December 16, 2015, that he intended to take his own life the following day. He said he was looking for a partner to enter into a ‘suicide pact’ with him and Gordon contacted him.
She said that she was ‘prepared to commit suicide with him’.
He drove from the West Midlands to her Peterborough home, texting on the way that he was writing the last of his suicide notes.
Gordon replied that she was also writing a suicide note to her partner, but no such letter was ever found.
Mr Birkinshaw picked up Gordon and drove to Rutland Water, said the judge. Gordon’s partner contacted police after she sent him a text saying she was going to kill herself.
She was found in a hotel near Rutland Water and told police she had ‘changed her mind’ and ‘did not want to commit suicide’.
It was not until after officers had taken her home that she told them she had planned to kill herself with Mr Birkinshaw and she believed he had killed himself.
His body was discovered in his car not far from the hotel. He had died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Gordon’s telephone records showed she had been discussing treatment for a medical problem on the afternoon of his death.
She had been active on a number of suicide forums for about a year and had been in contact with others about their suicide plans.
She told police the reason she did not kill herself was because she loved her partner.
Mr Birkinshaw’s death had a ‘devastating’ impact on his family, said the judge.
Gordon had no relevant previous convictions and a probation officer’s report said she had shown remorse.
Ali Naseem Bajwa QC, for Gordon, argued her jail term was far too tough and should be reduced.
The Crown Court judge was ‘wrong’ to find it was not a ‘genuine suicide pact’, claimed the QC. But Timothy Cray, for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “It was open to the judge to find, and she did find, that Gordon did not intend to see the act through’.
“It cannot be said the judge’s conclusion was unreasonable,” said Lord Justice Treacy.
“We are not persuaded that she was not entitled to conclude as she did,” added the judge, who was sitting with two others.
“We do not think there is a tenable argument that the sentence imposed in this case after trial was arguably manifestly excessive.
“Accordingly this refused.” application is