LONDON, March 22 -- A coroner's inquest ruled Tuesday that British Member of Parliament Stephen Milligan died 'by misadventure,' accidentally strangling himself while alone during an unusual form of sexual stimulation.
Milligan, a Conservative legislator and former journalist, was found dead in his home Feb. 7, clad only in women's stockings with a cord around his neck and a plastic bag over his head. He had apparently died early the previous day.
'There is no evidence of any other person being involved. This is a tragic accident,' Coroner Dr. John Burton said in his ruling, which added there was no evidence of suicide. 'This was an unintentional death. It was a death by misadventure.'
The coroner's court in west London heard a pathologist's testimony that Milligan had accidentally asphyxiated himself with the cord between his neck and his leg while apparently starving himself of oxygen in the belief it enhanced stimulation during masturbation.
'He died as a result of finishing an apparatus constricting his neck.' pathologist Dr. Iain West said. 'There is nothing to suggest anyone else was involved. He could have done it on his own.'
West said the evidence suggested that Milligan did not intend to die. The cord around his neck could easily be undone and it was padded.
The pathologist said Milligan's death was one of those 'tragedies one sees from time to time' when someone engaging in the sexual practice known as auto-erotic asphyxiation loses control over the amount of pressure they apply to their neck, become unconscious and end up strangling themselves. He said he comes across two or three similar deaths each year.
Detective Superintendant Brian Edwards, the police officer in charge of the investigation, told the court it had been fairly clear that no one had anticipated what happened.
BBC journalist Penny Wroute, a friend of Milligan's and the last person to see him alive, told the court he had been troubled and concerned about a television program dealing with employment in his constituency, but not enough to make her think he would kill himself. Wroute saw Milligan at her home only hours before he died.
'He was preoccupied and a bit subdued when he arrived,' Wroute said. 'He cheered up over the evening. He was not depressed near enough to be suicidal. I was as amazed as everyone else.'
Milligan's secretary Vera Taggart, who found the body, testified her boss had also complained to her about the television program, but she said it did not seem as if he wanted to kill himself over it.
Milligan's parents and sister also attended the hearing.
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