Canada

A couple's romantic Valentine's Day tryst unexpectedly wound up as a menage a trois, the added participant being the local police.

Plans for a naughty night involving handcuffs went awry when the couple realized they'd lost the key. It eventually fell upon the man to make an awkward phone call to law-enforcement authorities, requesting help to free the woman.

Police in southeastern Quebec received the call Wednesday morning, the day after Valentine's. They believe the woman had been stuck there for hours.

But they're not sure, precisely, how long it had been: "We didn't ask," said a police spokesman.

"The woman's arm was changing colour. It was turning blue," said Const. Paul Tear, a spokesman for the Memphremagog municipal police force.

"So it had been a while."

The man had already managed to pry off one of the cuffs. Police used wire-cutters to remove the second one.

Officers say they suggested to the woman that she go to hospital to get her arm checked out, but aren't sure whether she followed up on their advice.

Because the man had been free to move, and the woman also had one arm freed, they managed to get themselves dressed before police officers arrived.

The couple are in their 40s.