Nine men face trial over alleged abuse of woman drugged by her husband

Nine men have gone on trial at Manchester Minshull Street crown court accused of involvement in the sexual abuse of a woman whose husband drugged and raped her. The husband has already admitted offences against his wife covering more than two decades. He cannot be identified because doing so would compromise her anonymity.

The allegations against the nine defendants concern the period from 2015 until the husband’s arrest in 2025. Prosecutors said seven men visited the couple’s home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and took part in the abuse. Two others, Daniel Rayner, 42, of Whitstable in Kent, and David Graves, 59, of Ilkeston in Derbyshire, are accused of encouraging it online.

The seven accused of participating at the house are Philip Wild, 58, of Stockport; Jordan Wallace, 31, and Alan Keelan, 42, both of Manchester; Jonathan Kirk, 43, and Robert Stewart, 70, both of Stockport; Mohammed Sabir, 28, of no fixed abode; and Richard Townsend, 37, of Heywood in Greater Manchester.

Opening the prosecution case, Louise Oakley KC told the court that the husband had sexually abused his wife without her knowledge while she was asleep or unconscious. Initially, he exploited occasions when alcohol had caused her to sleep deeply, Oakley said. Over the years, he increasingly gave her a combination of drugs without her knowledge, sometimes alongside alcohol.

By 2023 at the latest, the husband was inviting other men to the house, having discussed doing so for much longer, Oakley told the court. She said he recorded himself and others raping and sexually abusing his unconscious wife. The prosecution alleges that the men knew she was unconscious and sought sexual gratification from her lack of awareness.

Oakley said the woman knew nothing of the abuse until police visited and told her she appeared in recordings made by her husband. As the allegations were outlined in court, one of the woman’s relatives cried and held their head in their hands while two companions comforted them.

The prosecutor said the trial might hear suggestions that the woman had pretended to be asleep or unconscious as part of sexual role play with her husband. She rejected that account on behalf of the prosecution, saying the alleged acts were rape and sexual assault rather than consensual sexual activity.

The court heard that undercover journalists entered a chat on the Telegram messaging platform, leading to the discovery of the husband’s offending. Police arrested him and seized his mobile phone. Oakley said it held more than a million photographs and videos, including material transferred from other devices and cameras, documenting abuse by the husband and others. She said the material reached back to 2004.

Four other men have already pleaded guilty at the same court. Sean Peers, 38, of Stockport; Keith Fotheringham, 59, of Dundee; and Graham Brougham, 74, of Northwich in Cheshire, admitted abusing the woman at earlier hearings. Karl Lindsay, 56, of Somerset, admitted offences involving no physical contact at a hearing on the Friday before the trial opened.

Oakley alleged that the husband concealed his offending behind a respectable public life and that the defendants similarly hid their conduct, either visiting the home discreetly at night or operating through phones and computers. All nine men contest every charge they face. The trial continues.