Woman who left postman to die alone after suicide pact loses sentence appeal

Natasha Gordon, 44, 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 from Walsall, 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 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, from Peterborough, had no relevant previous convictions and a probation officer’s report said she had shown remorse.

A psychiatric report pointed to anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder and two ‘significant’ suicide attempts.

Lord Justice Treacy said: “It cannot be said the judge’s conclusion was unreasonable.

"We are not persuaded she was not entitled to conclude as she did.

"Accordingly this application is refused.”