BBC News
Monday, 16 October 2006

Kinky relationship which went sour

An American man has been convicted of attempting to murder his Gloucestershire wife, who was allergic to latex, by putting a rubber gloved hand in her mouth. The jury heard a tale of bondage, whips and internet chatrooms.

               Allison Phelps met American Charles Henson in an internet chatroom devoted to bondage and domination.

               Her chatroom nickname was Salacious Squirrel and the pair married just months after meeting face-to-face for the first time.

               The jury heard details of a "master-slave" contract which was drawn up by Henson for his wife to sign to formalise their relationship.

               In their online conversations she also talked about her fantasy home - a large farm with stables and a dungeon.


What took place on the internet
was fantasy - Allison Phelps

Internet fantasies

But Ms Phelps told the court this idea was "just fantasy, not reality" and added: "What took place on the internet was fantasy."

Henson said he had an interest in bondage since he was about 19 and the couple had talked online about being in a master-slave relationship, with her as the submissive partner.

He said: "We also talked about various different other things that we both had in common, like the fact that I liked swords and had a sword collection in the home I was sharing with my mother at the time.

"I had 14 swords, 23 daggers, a battle-axe and two rapiers."

Henson told the court Ms Phelps agreed to become his slave and he bought a collar for her to wear symbolising the bond.


Latex man found guilty

He also said the couple had visited a bazaar in Birmingham prior to their marriage, where Ms Phelps bought a kind of whip called a "flogger" for them to use.

Henson said: "She didn't want me to spend any of my money. We looked at various different floggers. The first one we picked out and she chose was a heavy duty black flogger.

"A flogger is a whip. It's a handle with various different fronds for corporal punishment.

"In the Marquis de Sade lifestyle the submissive is into being flogged or caned or birched for pleasure."

But despite their shared interest in bondage and sado-masochism, the marriage collapsed and Henson, 39, went back to his native Wisconsin before returning to his wife's home in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, in March this year.

By then the 40-year-old had taken the surname of her new partner, Michael Phelps.

"In the Marquis de Sade lifestylethe
submissive is into being flogged or
caned or birched for pleasure" -
Charles Henson


Henson entered their former home and turned on the oven and four gas rings in an attempt to poison his wife.

He told the court he had wanted to be reconciled with his wife and had told the jury he turned on the gas because he was suicidal and wanted Ms Phelps to find him dead in her living room.

Later he tried to murder her by triggering her life-threatening allergy to latex with a rubber glove.

He shoved his gloved hand into Ms Phelps' mouth and told her she would die within four minutes, before being grabbed by Mr Phelps.

Henson tried to claim he was wearing latex gloves to combat the effects of the cold.

But he then got into a struggle, first with Ms Phelps and then with her new lover, and stabbed Mr Phelps four times, causing massive wounds which needed 35 stitches. Michael Phelps survived being stabbed

Henson had denied attempted murder and attempting to administer a poison or noxious substance, and also denied wounding Mr Phelps, claiming he acted in self-defence.

Ironically the court heard Ms Phelps' latex allergy would have been "very unlikely" to lead to anaphylactic shock - a severe reaction which can prove fatal.

But the prosecution were able to prove the attempted murder charge because Henson believed it would kill her and thus had intent.



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