UK: Over One Million Abuse Images Found on Phone of Man Who Drugged and Raped Wife

A Manchester court in north-west England began on Monday the trial of nine men accused of various sexual offenses against a woman who was systematically assaulted by her husband in his 60s, whose identity is withheld by court order to protect the victim. The court heard that the husband, who drugged and raped his wife for more than two decades and invited strangers to take part, kept "over one million images and videos" documenting those crimes on his mobile phone.

More Than One Million Recordings and Shocking Details

Prosecutor Louise Oakley told the jury that the husband filmed the assaults and shared them online and via social media apps with other "like-minded men." She described the defendant's phone, seized upon his arrest, as resembling a "confession book" containing "barbaric sexual fantasies" dating back to 2004, stating that he led a "double life behind a veneer of respectability."

The prosecution stated that some of the defendants "stepped out from behind their screens" and conspired for years with the husband to administer drugs and substances to the victim with the aim of "exploiting and abusing her." Starting in 2023, the husband began inviting men to the marital home, filming himself and others raping his wife while she was unconscious.

Second Case in the Country and Defendants' Professions

The husband pleaded guilty last September to around 60 sexual offenses against his wife, including administering substances with intent to stupefy or overpower her. The indictment includes 13 other men; four have already admitted to various offenses, while the remaining nine, aged between 28 and 70, deny charges including rape, sexual assault, and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent. Among these defendants are a doctor, a taxi driver, an employee at a recruitment agency, and a worker at a builders' merchant.

This is the second case of its kind currently being tried in Britain, following the start of another trial of four men last week in Winchester, southern England. These trials come amid growing global awareness of drug-facilitated sexual assault, particularly in the wake of the high-profile trial in France of Dominique Pelicot, who drugged his wife Gisèle and raped her for nearly a decade with the participation of dozens of strangers.