Mechanic offered 'special serum' to husband who raped wife, court hears
REUA mechanic accused of plotting to drug and rape a man's wife offered the husband a "special serum" to knock her out, a court has heard.
Daniel Rayner, 42, is one of nine men facing various charges in relation to sex offences said to have been committed against a Stockport woman.
Her husband has already pleaded guilty to multiple offences dating back over 20 years, including rape, sexual assault and administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Rayner, of Whitstable in Kent, bought a "sleeping liquid" packaged as "hair serum" from a website selling sexual wellness products and sleep-related aids, Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard.
Jurors have been told the husband took images and videos of his abuse at the couple's home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, as she lay "out of it" on their bed, and then shared them online.
On Thursday, prosecutors read out a 2024 exchange between the husband and Rayner on the messaging service Telegram.
In it, Rayner asked the husband if he had recently taken any photos or videos of his wife, and then months later told him he could obtain GHB, also known as a "date rape drug".
The court heard that items available from the online store from which Rayner was said to have bought the "special serum" were said to have "amnesiac properties so no memory during sleeping process and no side effects".
Self-employed Rayner denies conspiracy to rape, conspiracy to assault by penetration and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent.
The court has heard the husband was arrested in October 2025 after undercover journalists in Germany infiltrated a chat group on Telegram for people interested in sex with someone asleep or unconscious.
Authorities were alerted and an investigation was launched which 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 his address, and it 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".
The husband, who is in his 60s and cannot be identified to protect his wife's anonymity, will be sentenced at a later date.
Alleged contact offenders, said to have visited the couple's home to commit sexual offences, including rape, 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, Greater Manchester
- senior paramedic Jonathan Kirk, 43, of Stockport.
Rayner and kitchen firm sales representative David Graves, 60, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire, are said by the prosecution to be "non-contact offenders" who "hid behind a screen" as they allegedly conspired to administer substances to the wife, and for her to be raped.
All nine defendants deny the allegations.
Four other men besides the woman's husband have pleaded guilty to offences against her.
They will be sentenced once the trial is over.
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