Woman who ‘encouraged men to kill themselves in bogus suicide pacts’
A WOMAN talked a postman into a suicide pact and then left him to die alone, a court heard yesterday.
Natasha Gordon, 44, is said to have discussed joint death bids with six other men, who she also met online.
She met up with the postman, Matthew Birkinshaw, a day after their first internet contact, telling him they would ‘die together’.
He had travelled 90 miles from his home in Walsall to see her and after discussing methods they drove to nearby Rutland Water, where Mr Birkinshaw began the process that would lead to his death.
But Gordon left and did not tell police what Mr Birkinshaw, 31, was doing until it was too late, it is alleged. His body was found locked in his car later that day. A postmortem examination showed he had carbon monoxide poisoning.
Leicester Crown Court was told that Gordon, who denies a charge of encouraging Mr Birkinshaw to end his life, was messaging two other men about suicide pacts within hours of leaving him.
She was picked up by police at a hotel close to the scene of Mr Birkinshaw’s death at 4.30pm. Her partner called officers saying he feared she was going to kill herself.
But Gordon, of Paston, Peterborough, did not tell police that Mr Birkinshaw was dying nearby.
PC Gordon Scott, who met Gordon, told jurors: ‘She stated she had been on a suicide website the day before and had arranged to meet an unknown male to kill themselves.
‘She told me that when she opened the car door she could smell fumes and knew she would die if she got in so changed her mind.
‘The male had given her £60 to get home and told her not to try to change his mind. She stated she thought he would be dead by now as her last contact had been at 3pm that day.’
Mr Scott said she had the chance to help them to try to save Mr Birkinshaw but did not do so until her partner intervened. ‘That made her disclose
‘Enthusiastic advocate’
we should be looking for another person at risk,’ he said.
Mr Birkinshaw’s body was found at 6.38pm. Bodycam footage worn by the officers and shown to the court had Gordon saying: ‘He had a really good job, a girlfriend. He just did not want to live no more.’
Phone records showed she was sending messages to two other men about suicide methods. One read: ‘I can’t do pills. I throw up.’ The messages continued until Gordon was arrested at 11.10pm that night, on December 17, 2015.
Timothy Cray, prosecuting, told jurors: ‘This case was a million miles from any sort of mercy killing or comforting a loved one in their last
hours. ‘The defendant believed in suicide. She thought about it, she talked about it and was quite prepared to say that it was the right thing to do, to people she didn’t know or had only met via the internet.
‘The evidence from the other witnesses she had contacted via the internet shows that she was an enthusiastic advocate of suicide.’
The trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.
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