Man dies after bondage game with tree fails

Kevin Kirkland, 44, used a pair of makeshift rope handcuffs to attach himself to the trunk, but got trapped when a knot jammed around his wrists, The Sun said today.

Walkers discovered his body slumped against the tree the following morning near his home in Newport, Shropshire.

He was wearing just his socks and boots and had a small piece of cord wrapped around his penis.

The inquest heard how bachelor Kevin died from hypothermia and blood loss from cuts on his wrists, which were caused by his desperate attempts to escape.

He had drunk seven pints of lager and a vodka and coke with a mate the night before he died, Telford Magistrates Court was told.

After leaving his friend at 1am on December 30 he returned to his home in Newport where he made the handcuffs by melting a single piece of rope to make two loops for his wrists.

He then walked to a canal near his home where he stripped naked and attached himself to the tree using the rope.

Kevin tried in vain to escape in the pitch black and freezing temperatures by rubbing the rope up and down the tree, stripping the bark of moss and cutting his wrists.

At 8am, dog walker Mark Griffiths and his partner Elaine Batho heard Kevin crying for help.

Mr Griffiths told the inquest: "I heard a few grunts and groans. I called to him 'Are you okay, what's going on?'

"There was quite a lot of dried blood on his arms. He had marks on the back of his head and he was quite dirty.

"I wrapped him in my coat to give him some dignity and eventually a police officer came and cut him down.

"As we put him down on the ground I noticed a small cord around the base of his penis."

Kevin was rushed to hospital but he died hours later.

Computer expert Richard Roberts told the inquest Kevin's home PC was full of hardcore pornography and literature about "rope bondage".

Home Office pathologist Dr Alexander Kolar said Kevin died of hypothermia and blood loss after cutting his wrists by accident while struggling to escape.

John Ellery, coroner for Telford and Wrekin, recorded a verdict of accidental death at the inquest last week.

Mr Ellery said: "It is clear to me that having put himself in that position he could not get out of it."

A statement released by his family after the hearing said: "His death has left a huge gap in our lives and he will be in our hearts and thoughts always."

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