Woman ‘urged man to commit suicide in bogus pact’

‘She could smell fumes in car’

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 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 post-mortem 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 near the scene of Mr Birkinshaw’s death.

Her partner called officers saying he feared she was going to kill herself.

But Gordon, of Paston, Peterborough, did not tell police Mr Birkinshaw was dying nearby.

PC Gordon Scott, who met Gordon, told jurors: ‘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 trial, which is expected to last two weeks, continues.