He confessed in a courtroom, pleading guilty to all charges. A 60-year-old English man has admitted drugging, raping and having other men rape his wife at their home in Stockport, northern England, for twenty-one years. He did so shortly before his trial began, pleading guilty to all sixty charges, including sexual assault and illicit distribution of intimate photos and videos.
The confession
During the hearing which was held in Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, his wife sat in the front row comforted by her family, inside a packed courtroom. The identity of the man, who lives in the Stockport area of Greater Manchester, has not been released to protect that of the victim. It took the husband 18 minutes to plead guilty to all charges. Permitted crimes include rape, attempted rape, sexual assault, penetration without consent and sharing intimate images.
One of the charges states that the man intentionally administered a substance to his wife “with the intent to stun or overpower her”, so as to allow other people to perform sexual acts with her.
The charges against 12 other men
In addition to her husband, twelve other men, aged between 28 and 74, are accused of having participated in the sexual abuse of the same woman. The Manchester Court, where the man is on trial, did not release the name of the accused to protect the privacy of his wife, who chose to remain anonymous. All that is known about him is that he is around 60 years old, and that the disputed episodes took place between 12 November 2004 and 25 October 2025 in the family home.
As for the other twelve men, the abuses of which they are accused would have occurred, according to the magistrates, between 2018 and 2025. All of them have declared themselves innocent: their trial should be held in the same court and could last several months.
The case of Gisèle Pelicot in France
A case sadly similar to that of Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who for years was drugged by her husband Dominique and then raped by other men he himself enlisted. To render the woman unconscious, the man administered anxiolytics to her without her knowledge. Then he invited men lured online to rape Gisèle to their home in Marzan, southern France. Unlike the English case, Gisèle Pelicot waived her right to anonymity, requesting an open trial. The goal was to give strength to all victims of violence.