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When sex games go wrong

We treat sex too lightly, says
sean thomas, who was charged with rape after violent sex

Murder is always good copy, particularly when it involves attractive young women. So it's no surprise the media have focused on two recent cases: the death of British exchange student Meredith Kercher in Perugia, and the murder of 24-year-old Olivier Mugnier by Jessica Davies, a British girl living in Paris.

Each case carries sexual echoes too. According to reports, the murder of Mugnier unfolded as part of an erotic game, when Ms Davies tried to "intensify an extreme sexual experience" by putting a knife to Mugnier's throat. After slicing an artery, she is thought to have stabbed him "in a frenzy of anger and frustration".

A French police source added: "Davies has mentioned the case in Italy. The similarities between the allegations in both cases are very clear. It may be that the alleged killer here was inspired by what is said to have

‘We were hooked, I think, on the drug that violent sex provides - the endorphin rush’

happened in Italy."

As to what occurred in Perugia, we cannot yet be sure. It may be that Kercher was involved in a sex game that went too far - and when she refused, she was brutally killed. Local police have leaked plenty of evidence to support the theory.

Either way this innocent girl's death is a hideous crime. And a further example, perhaps, of what can happen when sex games go wrong.

I know whereof I speak in this matter. Some years ago I was tried for rape, on a charge brought by my girlfriend. Although my girlfriend and I did have sex the night I was arrested, it was consensual. I was rightly acquitted.

Nonetheless, looking back, I feel some responsibility for what went wrong between my girlfriend and me. Because the sex we had, that evening, and for many evenings before, was brutal and rough: as that is the kind of sex we both liked.

I'm not sure which one of us introduced this kinkiness into our lovemaking. But we both