2016, Mallorca, Spain

Lisa died in Spain but was on holiday there visiting her British husband - she lived in Kilburn, North London. Her husband first claimed Lisa had died in a sadomasochistic sex game gone wrong.  He later changed his plea and admitted strangling his wife with a phone cable.  He was found guilty of a lesser charge than murder in a Spanish court.  Their grown up daughter gave evidence in court that her mother had been a victim of violence and threats from her father.

Homicide (Spanish court) 12 years

2015, North London

Marta was killed by her previously violent, “obsessively jealous, controlling” boyfriend Thomas Kocik, 38. In his defence he claimed he found his girlfriend dead at their flat after days of amphetamine fuelled bondage sex sessions. He claimed in court that he and Marta regularly engaged in bondage. Marta was found to have been severely beaten before her death. Kocik dumped her body in a suitcase in the Regent's Canal.

Murder, life, min term 18 years 6 months

2003, London

Sonia was from Argentina, and we have not yet been able to find her full name.

“Surgeon to the stars” Graham Belham, who died in 2010, was arrested when she was found dead.

Belham was “arrested on suspicion of murder after a prostitute was found dead with a bag over her head. Mr Belham was released without charge and a coroner ruled it could have been suicide or a sex game gone wrong”.

“In November 2003 Belham met Argentine prostitute Sonia online. He was arrested and kept in a cell overnight after her death before being released without charge.”

No charges brought

2002, Camden, London

Elizabeth was from Nottingham and was mum to a daughter. She was murdered by Anthony Hardy. Hardy had previously murdered Sally White, but Sally’s death was ruled as being from natural causes. Elizabeth’s dismembered body was found with Brigitte Maclennan’s in a bin near Hardy’s home. All three women met Hardy when working as prostitutes in the King’s Cross red light district.

Hardy had stalked and attempted to kill his wife and was a suspect in three rapes. Described as “pornography-obsessed”, Hardy claimed he had killed Sally, Elizabeth and Brigitte by accident as part of a bondage sex game - but at court admitted murdering them, and received three life sentences. He is suspected to have killed two other women.

Murder, life

2002, Camden, London

Brigitte was originally from New Zealand, and was mum to two sons. She was murdered by Anthony Hardy. Hardy had previously murdered Sally White, but Sally’s death was ruled as being from natural causes. Elizabeth’s dismembered body was found with Elizabeth Valad’s in a bin near Hardy’s home. All three women met Hardy when working as prostitutes in the King’s Cross red light district.

Hardy had stalked and attempted to kill his wife and was a suspect in three rapes. Described as “pornography-obsessed”, Hardy claimed he had killed Sally, Elizabeth and Brigitte by accident as part of a bondage sex game - but at court admitted murdering them, and received three life sentences. He is suspected to have killed two other women.

Murder, life

2002, Camden, London

Sally was murdered by Anthony Hardy, her neighbour. The pathologist on the case was later disciplined for deciding Sally had not died in suspicious circumstances , despite blood on her clothes, the bedding and wall, with injuries on her head and body; despite her being found by accident by police, locked in a room in the home of a man who had a history of stalking and violence against women, who was a suspect in three rapes and who had recently been arrested. Sally was supposed to have died by “blocked arteries and shock generated by rough sex.”. The coroner was not told of the suspicious circumstances and so ruled the death was from natural causes. The police were then unable to investigate her death further.

Hardy went on to kill Elizabeth Valad, 29 and Brigette MacClennan, 34. He claimed he had killed all three women by accident as part of a sex game - but at court admitted murdering them, and received three life sentences.

Murder, life

2001, London

Hyo Jung was from South Korea and was studying French language in Lyon, and whilst visiting London was killed by Kim Kyu Soo, 31, who ran a guesthouse.

Her body was found in a suitcase near York and she had been bound with tape.

Kim was convicted of her murder and the murder of Song In Hea.  Kim was reported to have used the defence "that the women died after a bondage sex game went terribly wrong" 

Murder, life sentence for each murder

2001, London

In Hea was from South Korea and was studying hotel management at Guildhall University in London. Shewas killed by Kim Kyu Soo, 31, who ran a guesthouse.

Her body was found in a cupboard and she had been bound with tape.

Kim was convicted of her murder and the murder of Jin Hyo Jung. Kim was reported to have used the defence "that the women died after a bondage sex game went terribly wrong"

Murder, life sentence for each murder

c.1995, London

On the day she was killed, Margaret had visited her terminally ill boyfriend in hospital. She'd then drunk with an 'old friend' - 53 year old George Charles. While Margaret was in "a comatose state", the 'friend' had sex with her - this being 1995, it seems the news reporting needed no consideration of her inability to consent - & suffocated her.

The Judge said: 'I am entirely satisfied, as was the jury, that there was no intention to cause serious injury'.

Manslaughter, 5 years

1980, Walthamstow

Pat, from Middlesborough - described by her step-brother as “happy go lucky, and “the kind of girl who would decide to do something and no one would be able to stop her” is killed by Peter Swindell, 40, a policeman. Pat was a prostitute at Kings Cross and may have moved to London to avoid the Yorkshire Ripper. She was a lesbian and was described in news reports as “Butch Pat” and “heavily tattooed with the names of her former female lovers”.

The court heard that Swindell was "a man obsessed with bondage" and that bondage pornography was found at his home, including photos he had taken of women feigning death in nooses. One woman, who had been going out with Swindell, spent a "night of fear" in his home when she was late to meet him: he tied her to a cross and put a hood over her head, before leaving her overnight. Described as “a respectable woman and not a prostitute”, he had shouted at her “this will teach you to let me down and refuse to marry me”.

Pat’s cause of death was not established although it was likely she suffocated. Swindell’s defence was that she may have died of heart failure while tied up. Swindell dismembered Pat's body in the bath, and hid her remains, wrapped in plastic, in Epping Forest. He was not charged with murder as the Director of Public Prosecutions said the evidence did not reveal an intention to kill or cause grievous bodily harm to Pat.

Swindell was cleared of manslaughter and sentenced to five years, later reduced on appeal, for preventing the burial of Pat's body.

Not guilty