Murder charge man tells of neck fetish

A musician wept yesterday as he told a court he accidentally strangled a schoolteacher to death after she consented to his 20-year fetish for women's necks.

Graham Coutts, 35, used a washing up bottle and a length of ribbon to simulate the moment he wrapped a pair of tights around Jane Longhurst's neck after explaining the "ground rules" of asphyxial sex.

He then broke down in the witness box at Lewes crown court in East Sussex as he claimed that Ms Longhurst's naked body fell limp, and began bleeding.

Mr Coutts had to compose himself on several occasions to deliver his account of how he and the 31 year old fell into each other's arms at his flat in Hove last March.

Mr Coutts denies murdering Ms Longhurst, of Brighton, while satisfying a fascination with strangled and dead women.

However, yesterday he admitted storing her body in a box and keeping it for 35 days.

Giving evidence, Coutts, of Hove, said Ms Longhurst was an eager and willing participant in sex.

The court heard how he had enjoyed a fetish for women's necks since he was 15.

He said: "I suppose it's something that would be termed a fetish. I've had it for 20 years. Since I was about 15 or 16.

"The neck is a sexual part of the body, a sexual part of the female body, an erogenous zone that is accentuated by necklaces or chokers or perfume. It's part of the body that is used for flirtation.

"I don't know why I have this fetish."

Mr Coutts said that, with Ms Longhurst lying dead in his bedroom, his first concern was to make sure that his pregnant girlfriend did not find out what happened, in case it caused her to suffer a miscarriage.

The trial continues on Monday.

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