Cracking the whip

TO her friends she is Karen, the self-assured and bright young woman, with a keen wit and plenty to say.

But there is another side to the confident 25-year-old with a naughty glint in her eye.

To a loyal group of clients she is Mistress Christina - one of Southampton's in-demand and highly-paid dominatrix.

She lives in the centre of Southampton, in a smart executive flat paid for by one of her slaves.

Outside is a convertible BMW, bought with the substantial earnings she can demand from her submissive customers.

She doesn't have to worry about getting a cleaner - she has male slaves who will pay her £100 an hour to get on their hands and knees to clean her kitchen floor with a toothbrush.

And if she fancies putting her feet up and watching a bit of telly there is another client who pays to be her human footstool.

"It does sound a bit peculiar but these men love to do this and they pay me for the privilege.

"It might look like I'm taking advantage of them but we are both getting something out of it - they are getting what they want and I am making a living.

"I never have sex with any of the men. I have to remain unattainable that's all part of it.

"I don't get anything out of it sexually - this is strictly business. I am not a man-hater or anything like that - I think blokes are great.

"I take great pride in the fact that I make more money than a prostitute and I never have to take my clothes off," she said.

Mistress Christina's wardrobe is packed with rubber mini-skirts and mini-scule dresses, a PVC nurse's outfit with unfeasibly high white stilettos and a make-believe outfit for the office - to titillate businessmen who have fantasies about being spanked by their secretary.

"I have men of different ages and backgrounds coming to see me, from lorry drivers to wealthy executives who run their own companies.

"I have lads of 18 or 19 who come along and I once had a 70 year-old man - but I had to stop seeing him when he nearly had a heart attack and I had to get his pills out.

"I gave him his money back and said I couldn't see him any more. I couldn't face trying to explain to an ambulance crew what was going on, especially when I was all dressed up. I'm sure people have this perception that it's all creepy old guys in rain macs - but it's not.

"I see a lot of businessmen - this is an expensive hobby and you have to be earning quite a bit to afford it.

"I don't get attracted to my clients but a couple of them are gorgeous.

"I don't know whether the men who come to see me are married or not. Some of them tell me and I can see whether they are wearing a wedding ring.

"They ask me to do things with them that they wouldn't or couldn't ask their wives to do," she said.

"These people are living a double life - acting normal in everyday life but doing this secretly as well. I do wonder if half of the attraction is the fact it's a secret.

"They don't feel guilty because they are not actually having penetrative sex, although they are getting a kick out of it," she said.

Mistress Christina has created her own dungeon. She has spent hundreds of pounds on outfits and equipment to fulfil the men's fantasies.

On one wall is a vast array of whips, clamps, chains, pegs and weights all designed to inflict just the right level of pain - and the room is dominated by a whipping bench.

"I have men who like to be tied up for hours on end. Part of the excitement for them is that they don't know when I am coming back.

"Depending on how long they have paid for I will tie them up and then go off and have a cigarette and a glass of wine.

"I have left some customers for hours when I go off and do my shopping - and then they pay me £500," she said.

Karen is not a lifestyle dominatrix. They live the life 24 hours a day and have slaves living with them.

"I don't really do all that lifestyle stuff but I do have one client who likes to take me out for a really expensive night out.

"I will order champagne and we will have a meal in a really good restaurant.

"At the end of the evening I get up from the table and tell him I'm off out with my friends and order him to go back to the flat and wait for me.

"I go out for a good time with my mates, dancing and drinking, and when I get back in the early hours he is waiting for me and he licks my shoes clean.

"When I wake up, he has already left to go to work," she said.

Karen had a hectic childhood and her formative years were upset by the break-up of her parents' marriage.

As a young girl she showed great promise as a ballerina and she was tipped to train at the Royal Ballet.

But the family break-up saw her whisked off to the seedier side of Liverpool - where there wasn't much call for a plie or pas de deux.

"It was really tough. The only thing you learned was how to break into someone's house or nick their car," she said.

She came back to Hampshire to live with her father, a lovable rogue who taught her how to get the things she wanted from life.

"It's all thanks to my dad that I am so independent. If it wasn't for him I would probably be in prison or living in a council flat with three kids.

"I'm not lazy but I just can't live a 9 to 5 style life. I am making my own money - it's all legal and I have an accountant looking after that side of things. I don't take money off the state and I am totally self-sufficient.

"I am a hustler just like my dad. I can make people do things for me and I always get what I want.

"When I am being Mistress Christina, it's even easier. If I want something like perfume or more money I can demand it from my slaves and they have to give it to me."

Originally Karen worked as a glamour model and starred in porn films - and she hopes eventually to return to the world of topless modelling.

"I am saving up for my boob job at the moment. I have been told that I could make it really big in the world of glamour modelling so I want to give it my best shot.

"Eventually I would like to get married and have kids - but not for a while yet. I've still got a lot to do before that happens," she said.

Hampshire police said it was difficult to define whether it is legal to be a dominatrix because it depends on the services offered. However, it is illegal to carry out an assault on a person.