In a large mansion in a leafy part of Cheam thrill-seekers come to be tied-up, caned, and verbally abused by professional dominatrix Madam Masters.

The Burdon Lane house serves as an unconventional workplace for the 25-year-old, whose passion for tormenting paying customers helped her through nearly 17 months of physical paralysis.

Elizabeth Masters uses the Cheam base for her Bondage, Domination, Discipline, Submission, Sadism, and Masochism (BDSM) sessions, but also ventures into town with customers who get pleasure being verbally abused while shopping or driving.

The dominatrix receives therapeutic benefits from her unusual career choice, with the practice helping her to overcome the crippling effects of a mental illness in 2009.

She said: "I was at university and I had been stressed for too long.

"In my second year my boyfriend was ill in hospital. I went to visit him, and in the hospital I collapsed.

"When I came back round I was numb from the waist down."

Ms Masters is affected by an anxiety disorder called conversion syndrome, which can cause sufferers to experience physical paralysis in highly stressful situations.

She was admitted to hospital in 2009 after losing control of her legs, and said: "I ended up spending eight months in the Queen Alexandra. After four months it got so bad I was paralysed from the neck down for two-and-a-half months and lost the ability to speak.

"My bowel stopped working and I ended up with septicemia."

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Tools of the trade: Some of the clothing and devices Ms Masters puts to good use

After eight months at the Portsmouth-based site she was transferred to a nearby mental health hospital, where she stayed until April 2011. 

Through the help of counselling, physiotherapy, and hydrotherapy, she eventually learned to walk again, and began meeting up with friends once a week outside of the hospital.

Ms Masters socialised with fellow BDSM enthusiasts, who would arrange for the teenager to take on the role of a dominatrix in organised sessions.

She said: "I would spank them, tie them up, and use verbal domination. It made me realise I am still me and that I am a strong woman. I had people on their knees respecting me.

"If you meet me outside I am so anxious, I even sometimes lose my speech talking to people in shops.

"But when I am domming (sic) I have no anxiety and I am relaxed.

"I am currently working on a book called 'BDSM Saved my Life'."

Her parents recognise the therapeutic benefits of her chosen career, with their daughter still experiencing periods of paralyis because of her stress disorder. 

She grew up in Portsmouth and has been based at  the Cheam mansion since June last year, where she is visited by roughly 15 customers a week including men, women, and couples.

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Ms Masters sees customers from Sutton and beyond

She said her customers tend to be submissive characters who get sexual gratification from being dominated, and their desires can often come in the shape of unusual fetishes.

One of her clients dressed up as a woman and paid to be verbally abused while cleaning a burning hot oven, while another was happy to be tied to a chair for four hours while the dominatrix went out.

Ms Masters bakes cakes for customers to enjoy afterwards, and said: "I see a lot of people who like to be kicked in the genitals, which is known as ball busting.

"We have people that like to be severely electrocuted. Other people like nipple torture to the point where their nipples bleed.

"Some people like to dress up in a gimp suit and clean the house."

Ms Masters is hoping to study psychology at Kings College London from September, and is aiming to finish her book by the end of the year.

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She works out of a property in Burdon Lane, Cheam