A 39-year-old transgender woman, Zoe O’Brien accidentally took her own life recently while performing a sex act on herself.
During the session, O’Brien suspended herself as a camera was set to take pictures, but during the session, she got into difficulty and accidentally hanged herself.
It was believed that she intended to take snaps of herself performing the sex act in her home in Brighton on June 7.
According to the UK Daily Star, an inquest at Brighton and Hove Coroner’s Court heard that her live-in landlord Steven Hunter, who was on holiday at the time, became concerned when he failed to see Miss O’Brien all day on motion cameras set up in the kitchen.
He later asked neighbours with a spare key to check on her before they found her hanging from the ceiling in front of a camera on a tripod.
The Brighton Argus reported that during their search cops found a remote control for the camera, images were taken during the act downloaded onto her computer and bondage gear in her bedroom.
It was ruled that it was not a suicide as O’Brien did not mean to kill herself.
Detective-sergeant Chris Lane said in a statement read out to the court: “Based on my findings no other person was present when she died, and no suicide note was found.
“I suspect she killed herself accidentally while taking photos.”
The inquest heard that Zoe’s name before she transitioned was Gary Burke and that the cause of death was hanging.
Catharine Palmer, assistant coroner for Brighton and Hove, Miss O’Brien did not mean to cause her own death.
She said: “I am satisfied she was conducting an act in the privacy of her own home and was alone.
“The fact that she was alone meant if things did go wrong there was no one there to help her.”
