A builder who claimed he strangled his girlfriend during a kinky sex romp was sentenced to life in jail today after being found guilty of murder.
Sean Freaney, 51, throttled Lisa Consterdine, 48, as she lay naked in bed.
Miss Consterdine died at the home she shared with Freaney in Bicester, Oxon., on February 28 last year.
A jury took just three-and-a-half hours to find Freaney guilty of murder at Oxford Crown Court today.
Freaney told the jury they indulged in ”very, very rough sex” and used erotic asphyxia to ”enhance the sex life”.
The court heard the pair met in 2008 and quickly started engaging in kinky sex games.
Freaney told the jury he and Miss Consterdine enjoyed using a pair of handcuffs they had been given for Christmas in 2009.
He told the jury: ”At first it was a gimmick, but it enhanced the sex life.
”There was a bit of tying up involved and the occasionally whips used.
”It [strangulation] came up in a conversation.
”I asked if she would like to try it and she said she would be willing.
”It enhanced sex, it was thrill seeker, and it was a developing game involving sex and sub-conscious.
”She was a bit tense in the beginning. As things progressed she became a bit more relaxed with it.
”I think it brought her a bit more enjoyment into our sex life.”
Freaney told the jury Miss Consterdine had often complained to him about their ”very, very rough” sex.
He said: ”I apologised and tried to be more gentle. I loved her from the moment I had first been with her.”
Dr Raymond Goodman, a specialist in ‘psycho-sexual medicine’, told the court Miss Consterdine’s injuries ”would suggest a struggle well beyond the normal reaches of recreational sado-masochism”.
He added: ”Normally it’s with someone you love, it’s a partner, and you’re very solicitous, and it’s a game.
”You are not there to bruise or hurt a partner who you love.”
Earlier the court heard Freaney was ”overcome with sexual excitement” when he strangled Miss Consterdine while they engaged in ”erotic asphyxia”.
The mum-of-two suffered a fatal heart attack caused by her neck being squeezed.
The court heard Miss Consterdine had thrashed violently as she was being strangled leaving scratch marks on Freaney’s face and buttocks.
Officers arrived just before 2am and found Miss Consterdine lying lifeless on her bed.
Police desperately tried to save her by giving her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation but the former chef for the Ministry of Defence was pronounced dead at the scene.