Man not guilty after sex game which killed his cousin

07 July 2014 - 11:58 By Dominic Skelton
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An English jury found a man not guilty after he was found curled up in a blood-stained bed under the body of his cousin, in 'a sex game gone wrong.'

Mark Pickford, 41, was found asleep in Dawn Warburton’s blood-stained bed. The Yorkshire mother was hanging by the neck above him and had a number of injuries on her arms and face, reported the Daily Mail.

The jury at Hull Crown Court heard that the Manchester man had exchanged violent sexual texts with his 40-year-old cousin in the week before her death. One of them read, “You’re getting tied up, I will treat you like a random victim, gonna do you Manchester style.”

Pickford denied charges of assault and manslaughter. He said that he had blacked out after drinking heavily and taking drugs. He could not remember anything five hours before the police woke him up.

He said he had only ever had “normal sex” with his cousin and sent violent texts when he was drunk.

Pickford told the court he believes that Warburton may have drugged him with diazepam (Valium) which “knocked him out.”

After eight hours of deliberation the jury found Pickford not guilty but the judge said the whole case had been “unpleasant and disagreeable.”

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