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A HUSBAND who became a “slave master” to his wife after the couple signed a bizarre sex contract faces jail after lashing her with a belt in a string of attacks.

Scott Western admitted he was “100 per cent in control” of wife Therese after the pair entered into the sadomasochistic pact in a bid to “save their 15-year marriage”.

Therese went to police after three beatings on the same day at their Edinburgh flat left her needing hospital treatment.

Police caught Western carrying a copy of the contract, signed by both of them, to his car as he planned to flee the home.

The documents contained rules for the couple’s master and slave relationship, specifying sexual acts and household chores which had to be completed by Therese, 46, or she faced “punishment”.

Among the “rules” she would be beaten for breaking were failing to answer a question quickly enough, opening the passenger door of their car instead of waiting for her husband to do it, and refusing to have sex when he wanted.

Western, a former administrator of Hearts web forum Jambos Kickback, pleaded guilty at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday to a charge of assaulting his wife at their flat in Murrayburn Place, Wester Hailles, on June 10 last year.

Depute fiscal Dev Kapadia told the court that the couple had “entered into a contract that (Mrs Western) was to be the accused’s slave and was to do anything the accused said”.

On the day of the attacks, the couple were in bed when Western awoke at 7.30am and told his wife that he wanted sex.

When she refused, Western slapped her on the head, face, chest and stomach, then struck her 10 times across her back with his belt.

Later that day, the couple drove to visit Therese’s 25-year-old daughter from a previous relationship, but only after Western had checked his wife for “visible bruises”.

Mr Kapadia told the court: “One rule was that [Mrs Western] could not leave the car until the accused opened the door for her.”

But Therese forgot the “rule” and when they arrived back at the flat, Western ordered his wife into the living room and told her to strip off before beating her and lashing her with his belt.

The couple left the flat to have lunch at a cafe in Gorgie Road when Therese again let herself out of the car door.

The pair returned to the flat and Western ordered his wife to strip before beating her again.

That evening, Therese met her 22-year-old son from a previous relationship and told him she had been attacked and showed him her bruises.

The police were called and Mrs Western was taken to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary for treatment.

Officers went to the flat and saw Western walking to his car carrying a handful of documents, which later turned out to be the master and slave contract.

Western told police that he was leaving to stay in temporary accommodation, but he was detained and taken to Wester Hailes police station.

Western, who now lives in Murrayburn Grove, Wester Hailes admitted assaulting his wife, threatening her, inducing her to remove her clothes and striking her with a belt, all to her injury.

Sheriff Gordon Liddle deferred sentence until next month for background reports and released Western on bail.