Inquest Probes Banker's Hanging With Prostitutes

Last year, an out-of-work British banker hired two prostitutes to stage his mock execution in the woods—and when they refused to follow through, he apparently hanged himself, the Daily Mail reports. This week, an inquest looked into the grisly details. Colin Birch, once an official at Deutsche Bank, had just been rejected for another bank job when he hired the two women through an online service for a "role play. ... My crime will be being a loser," he texted the escort agency.

Paid roughly $47,000, the women found Birch in the woods of Dartford standing on a step ladder with a rope tied to a tree branch. He showed them a safety harness (which later turned out to be phony), and asked to be sentenced to death. When he tearfully told them to kick away his ladder, the women laughed and fled, the inquest was told. The woman later returned and found Birch hanging dead on the rope. The coroner, however, ruled there was insufficient evidence for a suicide ruling, and recorded an open verdict. (More suicide stories.)