Man who drugged and raped wife said he understood consent, court hears
REUA man who drugged and raped his wife for more than 20 years told an online contact he "understands consent", a jury has heard.
The husband pleaded guilty in September to 60 offences against the woman including rape, administering a substance with intent and sharing indecent images without her consent.
The prosecution said that from 2023 the husband invited other men to the couple's home, where, it is alleged, he and others sexually abused her while she was unconscious and "out of it".
The man, who is in 60s, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, cannot be identified to protect his wife's anonymity. He will give evidence later this month against nine men on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
The husband was arrested in October 2025, after undercover journalists in Germany infiltrated a chat group on messaging app Telegram for people interested in sex with someone asleep or unconscious, the court heard.
Authorities were alerted, and an investigation identified the husband as one of the group users who had shared imagery of sexual abuse of his wife.
A mobile phone was seized from the address which was found to have one million photographs and videos said to have catalogued the abuse by the husband and other men.
The prosecution compared the phone to a "confession booth" which contained the husband's "darkest secrets".
He initially took advantage of his wife, asleep or unconscious, through alcohol and took videos and images he shared online, the jury has heard.
His internet browsing history between 2014 and 2025 revealed extensive searches for medication and drugs.
'Not without consent'
On Wednesday, prosecutors continued to read online messages exchanged by the husband with various individuals - some unknown - from the UK and abroad, who he shared imagery of his abuse with.
The court heard that in a conversation with contact Z in 2022, the husband said: "Like her?"
Contact Z said: "Yep."
The husband said: "Would you play with her passed out?"
Contact Z replied: "Not without consent."
The husband said: "Mine or hers?"
Contact Z said: "Both."
The husband said: "If she is passed out how?"
Contact Z said: "Pre-arranged as she knows it's going to happen."
The husband said: "Okay so I tell you it's pre-arranged."
Contact Z said: "If I'm going to be potentially having sex with her I need to have her consent mate.
"I need to hear it.
"Otherwise it's rape."
The husband said: "Yeah I get it. Understand."
Alleged contact offenders, said to have visited the couple's home to commit sexual offences, are:
- Taxi driver, Philip Wild, 59, of Stockport
- Recruitment agency worker, Mohammed Sabir, 28, of Stockport
- Building supplies employee, Jordan Wallace, 31, of Wythenshawe
- Industrial cleaning firm worker, Alan Keelan, 42, from Wythenshawe
- Retiree Robert Stewart, 70, of Stockport
- Sheet metal worker, Richard Townsend, 38, of Heywood
- Senior paramedic, Jonathan Kirk, 43, of Stockport
The Crown say non-contact offenders, who "hid behind a screen" as they allegedly conspired to administer substances to the wife, are kitchen firm sales rep David Graves, 60, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, and self-employed mechanic Daniel Rayner, 42, of Whitstable, Kent.
They all deny the allegations, including rape and conspiracy to rape, between 2015 and 2025.
The trial continues.
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