A head chef for P&O Ferries died during a sex game after being wrapped in plastic sheeting and clingfilm, a court has heard.

Alun Williams, 47, was unable to regulate his body temperature after being bound and suffered dehydration that triggered a heart attack, the jury at Canterbury crown court was told on Tuesday.

The chef, who lived with his girlfriend, had an interest in bondage and mummification and would meet men online for sex, the trial heard.

Richard Bowler, 35, and David Connor, 23, from Canterbury, have been charged with manslaughter. They also face an alternative charge of manslaughter by gross negligence, which they deny.

Bowler, who has cerebral palsy which affects his coordination and movement, wept loudly as Ian Hope, prosecuting, opened the case.

Hope said Bowler and Connor lived together in a flat in Dover, Kent, with Connor acting as Bowler’s informal carer. Shortly after 6am on 20 August last year, Connor walked into the taxi rank where his mother worked and said: “Mum, Richard’s killed someone,” the court was told.

He mentioned bondage and a muscle relaxant and told his mother the man was dead.

Bowler, after making a phone call to his brother and texting his sister-in-law for help, phoned the police at 5.53am and told them he had been involved in a “kinky sex session” with a friend who was wrapped up and had stopped breathing, the court heard. He was put through to the ambulance service and told them Williams had taken the drug ketamine.

Hope said Bowler cut open the clingfilm and plastic sheeting to perform CPR and told the emergency services: “I thought he was just sleeping. I am sorry, I should have called before. He takes ketamine and that mongs him out.”

The court heard that Williams was found wrapped tightly from head to toe in the plastic sheeting and clingfilm, with a space left around his nose and mouth so he could breathe. A hood had been placed over his head, allegedly at Williams’s request, and sexual acts involving the three men had taken place, the court was told.

Connor told the police that he left the flat at midnight after Bowler told him he had a man coming round for a sex session, the jury heard. He said he returned at 1am and Bowler told him that Williams had wanted to be wrapped in clingfilm.

Hope said police found drugs including ketamine, cocaine, methamphetamine and amyl nitrate, otherwise known as poppers, in Williams’s rucksack. They also found a gas mask and ties in his bag. Sex toys, masking tape, duct tape, black plastic sheeting and clingfilm were also found in the flat, the jury heard.

A laptop found in Williams’s car showed he had an interest in bondage and mummification, the court heard.

A postmortem examination on his body confirmed he had died suddenly after body-wrapping while under the influence of ketamine and methamphetamine.

The trial continues.