Thought you’ve heard it all? Maybe not. There have been several cases of people who volunteer to be murdered, and sometimes eaten, by willing killers.

This is basically cannibalism as a sexual fetish, coupled with a death wish in the victim. The first high-profile case was in 2003, when Armin Meiwes was convicted of first cutting off his victim’s penis and letting him bleed to death for a few hours before hanging his body from a meat hook, severing various parts and then storing them in the freezer. And yes, there was sexual contact between Meiwes and his victim, although no-one is really sure if the sex took place before or after death.

Meiwes found his ‘accomplice’ after placing more than 400 ads on various internet sites. Bernd Jürgen Brandes was the one who eventually responded. Although there has been plenty of speculation about Meiwes’ motivation, and his psychological state, very little has been said about Brandes. What makes a person desire this kind of death? After all, volunteering to be murdered is no normal suicide. Some theorise about the religious implications – if Brandes was a devout Catholic, being murdered would avoid him sinning under the rules of the church.

On the other hand, there is heavy evidence suggesting that there was no struggle involved with the severing of his penis, or the sexual contact. How far does submissiveness (in the context of sexual Dominance/Submissiveness) go? The answer is, in this case, about as far as it is possible to go: Meiwes filmed the entire murder, and it appears that Brandes was completely complicit in each step, even going so far as renting apartments in Berlin that could be used as potential crime scenes.