Escorts posed as executioners before hanging

THREE people have been arrested in connection with the death of a former City banker who allegedly paid two escorts to pose as executioners before he killed himself.

Colin Birch, 44, was found hanged from a tree on Dartford Heath, Kent, on 30 July after losing his job as an assistant vice president at Deutsche Bank.

He is alleged to have arranged to meet the escorts on the heath, where they found him standing on wooden steps with a noose around his neck.

The women, who posed as executioners at his request, were led to believe he was secured with a harness to stop him from being hanged, but after briefly leaving him they returned to find him hanged.

A police source said: "The girls believe they were used to help kill him without realising what they were doing."

A Kent Police spokeswoman confirmed that two women and a man, believed to be the cab driver that took them to the spot, had been arrested and bailed.

She said: "Police were called to a wooded area near Wood Lane, Dartford, just after 7.20pm on Friday, 30 July, following reports that a man's body had been found.

"Police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the death of the man.

"Three people, a man and two women, were arrested in connection with the incident and have been bailed while inquiries continue. The death is currently being treated as suspicious."