Brit man ’strangles girlfriend to death during sex session that went wrong’

LONDON - A British man is said to have strangled his girlfriend to death during a sex session that went wrong.

Jason O’Malley, 39, who was having affairs with three women at the same time, claimed that his girlfriend Kerry Sneddon liked him to squeeze her throat during sex.

He told officers when arrested that the beauty therapist encouraged him to apply “a little bit of pressure” and they had done it six or seven times in sex sessions although he didn’t like doing it.

Sheffield Crown Court heard 36-year-old Sneddon’s naked body was found at the home they shared. She had been throttled with a ligature on the living room floor.

O’Malley told police he could remember starting to have sex but they had never used a ligature before and he had no memory of the events leading to her death.

He denies murdering his partner whom he met on an Internet dating site. The prosecution say he throttled her after an argument.

“The defendant killed Kerry Sneddon and when he strangled her he must have intended to kill her or at least cause her serious harm,” the Telegraph quoted prosecutor Bryan Cox QC as telling the jury.

“We do not accept the defendant suffered genuine amnesia. We submit he is lying about that.

“We do not accept it may have been an accident during the course of some consensual sexual activity which is the suggestion he has made. A ligature was made and force applied for a considerable period of time,” he stated.

The jury was told O’Malley shortly afterwards rang his ex-wife Karen with whom he still slept occasionally and told her he had done “something stupid” and killed Kerry. She had not been breathing for five or six minutes.

Karen rang for an ambulance.

O’Malley left his wife in July, 2007 to move in with Sneddon at her home in Rotherham town centre after meeting her on the dating site and beginning a sexual relationship.

While Sneddon went on holiday to Turkey with her two children and a friend soon afterwards, O’Malley met another woman on an Internet dating site.

They had a sexual relationship and she became pregnant with his child.

Cox told the court Sneddon saw a copy of the baby scan in her partner’s wallet and it caused some friction between them.

While the beauty therapist was outgoing and bubbly and worked part-time in a pub, O’Malley, an unemployed former driver, was described as insecure, suspicious, jealous, possessive and prone to violent outbursts.

O’Malley wanted to know all her movements and would check her text messages and Facebook profile and contact her if she was just a few minutes late in coming home.

Although it was a volatile relationship and they often argued by the end of 2009 the couple were talking of getting married and moving to Spain, which was Kerry’s longstanding dream.

O’Malley continued to see Lisa Harrison whom he met on the internet while living with Sneddon and he often confided in her about his relationship problems.

He also continued to have sex with his ex-wife and they remained on good terms. He also confided in her.

When police arrived at the house on November 8 last year they found O’Malley kneeling by the stairs with a piece of brown cotton material looped around his neck and tied to the banister as if he had been attempting suicide.

“What have I done, is she going to be all right?” he had screamed at the time.

A pathologist found bruises on Sneddon’s neck and face consistent with death by asphyxiation from a ligature being applied. He said they were not caused during consensual sexual activity as the defendant claimed.

O’Malley told police the couple had drunk some beer and began kissing and stripping each other’s clothes off after watching the X Factor.

He could not remember finishing sex although he remembered starting it. He said he would never have harmed Sneddon as they were “soulmates”.

The hearing continues. (ANI)