Bondage enthusiast died tied to tree

A computer engineer with an interest in sex bondage died after tying himself naked to a tree with cord wrapped around his penis, an inquest heard. Kevin Kirkland, 44, used a makeshift pair of rope handcuffs to attach himself to the trunk but got trapped when a knot jammed around his wrists. 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 pal 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 a pair of handcuffs by melting a single piece of rope to make two loops for his wrists. He then walked to a tree by a canal near his home where he stripped naked and attached himself to the tree using the rope handcuffs.



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 open. At 8am Mark Griffiths and his partner Elaine Batho discovered were walking their dog when they heard Kevin crying for help. Mr Griffiths told the inquest: ”I heard a few grunts and groans. I called to him ‘are you ok, what’s going on?’ 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 Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, Shropshire, but he died hours later. Computer expert Richard Roberts told the inquest that Kevin’s home computer was full of ”hard core pornography” and ”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 Thursday.