A 26-year-old woman died in West Yorkshire after being strangled by her boyfriend in a "reckless sex game gone wrong."
According to Yorkshire Live, the incident took place in February 2022, and the revelation was made during an inquest on Wednesday. The woman, identified as Georgia May Brooke, was a dancer and lived with her boyfriend Luke Cannon, 31.
Cannon Committed Suicide in the Woods After Learning Brooke Had Died of Cardiac Arrest
Cannon, took his own life by hanging just after he learned his lover had died in a local hospital—unable to recover from cardiac arrest. The coroner, Martin Fleming, added Wednesday that drugs may have played a factor in the tragedy, with traces of GHB and cocaine found in both of their bodies.
Cannon reportedly called authorities after Brooke went into cardiac arrest and she was rushed to a nearby hospital via ambulance. After her death, Yorkshire Live reported that cops opened a probe into Cannon, but found him dead before a probe could begin in earnest.
After learning Brooke's fate, police said that Cannon tried to contact her mother but failed. He then drove to a wooded area and died by suicide, the BBC reported, with a stranger finding his body the following morning in West Yorkshire.
Choking was Consensual, Revealed Text Messages
The court heard that text messages between the couple reportedly showed the choking was consensual. Fleming told the court that Georgia was "unlawfully killed," suggesting Cannon likely would have faced criminal charges if he was still alive.
Fleming said the couple's sexual practices were both "dangerous and reckless," both for the drug use and excessive force Cannon used to strangle his partner, Yorkshire Live reported.
Fleming added that there was no evidence that suggested Cannon meant to harm his partner. The BBC noted that a local police detective recalled in court that Cannon was "extremely remorseful and beside himself" while at the hospital, and that he was seen on CCTV footage "crying, pacing around and in a generally distressed state."
Fleming said he hopes Brooke's death acts as a warning to couples that what they do in the bedroom can have fatal consequences. "This type of sex act is dangerous and reckless and it all too often ends in fatal consequences," he said.
