A former pole dancer has been jailed for fours years for encouraging the suicide of a postman from Walsall.

44-year-old Natasha Gordon from Peterborough was sentenced at Leicester Crown Court.

31-Year-old Matthew Birkenshaw was found by Police in a car at RutlandWater in Leicestershire in December 2015.

The court heard Natasha Gordon had backed out of a suicide pact with him after meeting him online the day before.

Matthew's mother and brother read our statements to the court saying they miss him every day. The judge said the torment Matthew felt hasbeen passed on to those who knew him well.

Speaking at court, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb who sentenced Gordon said: "This was a serious case because Matthew Birkinshaw actually took his own life after your encouragement.

"I have found you misled him into believing you were genuine and firmly intent on committing suicide with him, although you were not fully committed.

"Gordon, of Paston Ridings, Peterborough, denied a single charge of encouraging Mr Birkinshaw to take his own life but was convicted by a jury at Leicester Crown Court in December."