Bonding success all gone wrong

Question
Please help!!! Humphrey is our neutered male, 2 years old in April.  We adopted Bess (now 1 year old) 6 months ago.  She had just been spayed a week before we brought her home.  Both are houserabbits, I thought Humphrey would like a companion.
The initial bonding went brilliantly and I thought they would be friends for life.  Bess had had a very poor start to life, she had been in a pet shop for most of her life before she went to the rescue centre.
She habitually stamps her feet and grunts regularly and distrusts humans (though this has improved greatly).
2 months ago she started to mount Humphrey, which he accepted and so she became the dominant bun. She also emits a wierd smell when she mounts him, it's pretty smelly! However 2 weeks ago she bit off (and ate) all of his whiskers and he now also has a bare patch near his nose. She now does this every day.  I have also witnessed her eating his fur after she has mounted him. She used to groom him every time he presented himself to her, now she just goes straight for his whiskers (although he doesn't have any left!) and pulls at his cheeks and under his mouth.  I've had to separate them when we're not around as I don't want this to get any worse.  Humphrey also seems to be a little quieter in himself recently.  I really feel for Bess as she's had a pretty crappy life but I don't want Humphrey to be bullied, if this is what she is doing?  Please can you offer any help?  I have rung the lady from the rescue centre to say we're bringing her back on Saturday, but I also feel like I've let Bess down.
Thank you.
Samantha Garbutt

Answer
Dear Samantha,

The very best resource I can give you is this:

http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-a=00062824-sp00000000&sp-q=bonding

You'll find on this page a listing of MANY excellent articles on bonding rabbits, including what to do when bonding gets rough, and how to mend a broken bunny bond.  The people who wrote these articles are very experienced, and the tips are really excellent.  I hope they help you get your two bunnies back into the friendly relationship they had before.  It can be done!  :)

I hope this helps.

Dana