London:
A former banker died in an "execution role play" after he paid two women to taunt him, a media report said.
Forty-four-year-old Colin Birch had been turned down for a job and he paid the women to call him a "loser" as he stood on a ladder with a noose around his neck.
Birch told the women that he was wearing a safety harness and then asked them to remove the ladder so that they could carry out a mock execution.
The women refused and walked away laughing.
However, one of the women became concerned and returned to find him dying.
Louise Howard, who runs Katie's Lovely Escorts, told an inquest that she received a call from Birch asking to arrange the "execution".
Birch had asked for two women to meet him in woods on Dartford Heath, Kent, to "perform an execution".
He sent her a text saying: "Just to clarify the role play. I will wear a harness to support me but will also have a noose round my neck for show. Girl will ask for execution fee and I will go to my place of execution. My crime is being a loser.
"Girl kicks away stool and laughs and walks back to car without looking back so to show she has no feelings. Important to stick to the role."