Jeweller choked to death during S&M session at elderly couple's home

Jeweller Lionel Webster choked to death after a bizarre sex game in a specially-created "dungeon" went horrifically wrong. The 61-year-old Ashbourne businessman was blindfolded, wrapped in chains and had a padlocked metal collar around his neck when he died in the converted garage at the home of pensioners Ann and Colin Richardson. The Richardsons were arrested by police on suspicion of murder but later released, an inquest was told. Coroner Ian Smith delivered a verdict of death by misadventure after hearing that Mr Webster died from neck compression. After the hearing, 75-year-old Mr Richardson said: "Lionel was a friend and we are very saddened by what happened."


Lionel Webster

The inquest heard how Mr Webster had regularly visited the couple's home in Broughton Crescent, Barlaston, near Stoke-on-Trent, after responding to an advert in a "fetish" magazine. On the day of his death on October 26, Mr Webster had told his wife he was going to visit an engraver - but he really had an appointment with 68-year-old Mrs Richardson. The inquest heard the father-of-two - who paid the Richardsons £150-an-hour - went to the "changing room" in their conservatory to put on an orange boiler suit and thigh-high black patent leather boots. He also wore various chains, a padlocked metal collar with six-inch spikes, a blindfold and a balaclava. The inquest heard heart condition sufferer Mr Webster was led to the "dungeon" by Mrs Richardson, who then attached the chain from his collar to a shackle on a beam across the garage roof.


Ann Richardson

Mr Webster pretended he was a military prisoner for the role play and had asked Mrs Richardson to play the role of his superior officer. Mrs Richardson told the inquest: "All his scenarios were concerned with the Army. He kept his equipment at our house. He'd never worn the collar before. When we started (the role play) he made a funny noise. I asked him if he wanted to carry on and he said 'yes'. Then his head went forward. I pressed the panic alarm and my husband came in. We tried to lift him up but he was too heavy. I thought he was dead." The inquest heard Mrs Richardson could not unlock the padlock around Mr Webster's neck because she could not find the key.


Colin Richardson

Mr Richardson told the inquest: "I heard a thumping sound and my wife scream 'oh my God'. I went into the garage and saw him suspended by a chain from his neck." Detective Constable Neil Baxter told the inquest: "Mrs Richardson said that safety procedures were in place and that one of the signs of distress was the client should flex their fingers to alert her to stop. Mr Webster wanted to act out a role play in which he was a soldier who had gone AWOL. He wanted to be blindfolded and subjected to torture." Mr Webster, who ran Lionel Webster Jeweller in Market Place, Ashbourne, had not told his wife, Jacqueline, about his double life. The inquest - held by North Staffordshire coroner Mr Smith in Stoke-on-Trent - heard the Richardsons were released from their police bail after prosecutors ruled Mr Webster's death was not a criminal act.