Nine-man trial hears wife was drugged with morphine and ketamine

Nine men went on trial at Manchester Crown Court this week accused of sexual offences against a woman who was drugged and raped by her husband over more than 20 years. The trial, at Minshull Street, is expected to run until at least the end of the year.

The husband, a man in his 60s from Stockport, cannot be named because identifying him would identify his wife, who has a legal right to anonymity. He has already admitted more than 60 offences, including rape and administering a substance with intent, and remains in custody awaiting sentence. Four other men have also pleaded guilty, so five men in all have admitted serious sexual offences.

The nine in the dock are aged between 28 and 70. They deny every charge they face. Channel 5 reported that 13 men had been due to stand trial before the four others admitted offences linked to the case. Most of the coverage put the abuse at more than 20 years, with ITV dating it to 2004, though one BBC News late bulletin on 2 November described a 13-year period.

Opening the case, the prosecutor Louise Oakley Casey said the couple had been married for more than 40 years and the woman had no idea what was happening to her until police knocked on her door. Channel 5 dated the arrest to 23 October last year. ITV reported that undercover journalists who had infiltrated an online group led police to the husband.

The court heard that he filmed and photographed the abuse and shared the images with other men, building a library of more than a million photographs and videos. Prosecutors described his phone as a confession booth holding his darkest secrets. According to ITV, he began inviting men to the family home from 2015, and the first was Robert Stewart, 70, from the Stockport area, who met him online and asked before one visit whether his wife was out of it. He left when she stirred.

David Graves, 59, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, is alleged to have supplied drugs and advised on hiding their bitter taste, suggesting gravy when the husband said his wife had noticed something wrong with her curry. ITV reported that Louise Oakley Casey told the jury: "an unconscious woman can't say no, but can't say yes either."

Channel 4 reported that seven of the nine defendants are described as alleged contact offenders identified from images on the husband's phone, while the others are said to have conspired behind computer screens. It reported that the defendants include a paramedic, a taxi driver and a youth football coach.

On Thursday the jury heard forensic detail. ITV reported that tests on a strand of the woman's hair found traces of morphine and ketamine, and a powerful sleeping tablet mixed with alcohol that could have been fatal. None of the drugs had been prescribed to her. She had messaged a friend after a night out saying she felt woozy and asking what was wrong with her. The court also heard that Jordan Wallace told police he believed the sexual activity was consensual role play.

The husband is expected to give evidence for the prosecution. The jury was told he expects to die in prison but wants his wife and family to know the truth.

Separate coverage on BBC One West and Channel 4 concerned a different trial, of four men accused of assaulting Joanne Young, a mother of three who has waived her anonymity, after her former husband Philip Young advertised her online. Philip Young has admitted raping and drugging her. Channel 4 reported that one defendant, Connor Sanderson Doyle, from Swindon, told the jury he believed Mrs Young had consented but wished he had done more to check, and that Sarah Jones KC asked him whether the duvet over her face and her single word of protest were not a red flag. Richard Wilkins, another defendant, said Philip Young told him she pretended to be asleep. All four men deny the charges.