MANCHESTER, England — Nine men went on trial Monday in Manchester, England, accused of participating in the sexual abuse of a woman who was drugged and assaulted by her husband over a 20-year period.
The husband, who cannot be named to protect the wife's privacy, pleaded guilty in September to multiple offenses including rape and administering a substance with intent to stupefy. Prosecutors allege he drugged his wife for decades, first using alcohol to incapacitate her and later graduating to a "cocktail of stupefying drugs" to ensure she remained unconscious during the abuse.
From 2023 onwards, prosecutors said, the husband began inviting other men to their home. While his wife lay unconscious in their bed, he filmed himself and others raping and sexually abusing her. He shared the footage and photos online to men who, prosecutors said, enjoyed the fact that the victim was asleep or entirely unaware of what was being done to her.
The scale of the alleged abuse was uncovered after undercover journalists infiltrated one of these online groups. A user claimed they were involved in drugging their wife and had been inviting strangers to rape her while she was unconscious and unaware. That user was identified, and police obtained a warrant to search his address. They seized a Samsung Galaxy phone containing over a million photographs and videos cataloguing the abuse.
The nine defendants all deny the charges against them. Four other co-defendants have already pleaded guilty to sexual offenses. Seven of the nine men are accused of visiting the victim's home. Prosecutors argued that all seven knew the victim was not a willing participant and did not reasonably believe she was consenting. However, prosecutors noted the men had varying degrees of knowledge: some knew other men were involved; others may have only known the victim was incapacitated through drink.
The husband and wife had been in a relationship for 44 years and had two children together. In one text exchange, one of the co-defendants became uneasy and warned the husband about "what happened to the guy in France," referencing the Dominique Pelicot case, in which dozens of men were found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting his former wife.
The victim says she had never met any of the defendants and did not knowingly have sexual contact with them. She only learned of the abuse when police came to the house in October 2025, prosecutors said, adding that the "life she knew ended."
