BBC Presenter died after gay sex session
Radio presenter Kevin Greening died from a drug overdose after taking part in a gay bondage session, an inquest has heard.
Coroner Paul Knapman recorded a verdict of misadventure after the 44-year-old was found dead by police at a flat in Wandsworth, south London, on December 29, the eve of his 45th birthday.
Greening, who shot to fame as a Radio 1 breakfast show presenter in the 1990s, had been in a black leather sling attached to scaffolding in the bedroom of the flat occupied by his boyfriend Sean Griffin on the day he died, Westminster Coroner's Court heard.
Mr Griffin told the inquest he had become concerned about Mr Greening, who was wearing a rubber suit and had cling film and "gaffer tape" around his trunk, when he noticed that his face was pale and the area around his mouth was grey.
Mr Griffin said: "I brought him into the living room which had proper overhead lights because I wanted to check to see whether I could see his pupils dilate."
Breaking down at one point, Mr Griffin said: "Kevin and I had a very happy and very vigorous sex life. It was not conventional by heterosexual norms perhaps but it was a sex life which was vigorous and imaginative and we enjoyed each other."
Dr Knapman said: "He was found dead having indulged in unorthodox sexual behaviour involving restraint equipment and illegal drugs. I will say this is a case of misadventure."
He warned the court that he regretted that it would be necessary to hear evidence of behaviour that many "may find unusual or deviant".
Photographs not shown to the public, but given to Dr Knapman, showed the bedroom of the flat with scaffolding poles with hooks, and chains coming down from some of the poles. Other images included a dog collar, boots, black boxing gloves, black jackets, and black wristbands.
The inquest heard that tests on Greening's blood after his death found traces of cocaine, ecstasy and GHB.
Detective Sergeant Will Reynolds, the police officer assigned to the case, confirmed that Mr Griffin had been cautioned for drug possession following Mr Greening's death.
He said Mr Griffin had initially been arrested on suspicion of murder and taken into police custody, but had been "de-arrested" when the circumstances of Mr Greening's death had become clear.
