manchester, england —
Nine men accused of aiding or abetting the abuse of women whose husbands drugged and sexually assaulted them over two decades appeared in court on Monday for the start of their trial in Manchester, England.
Prosecutors said the defendants all met in online groups or online after the victim’s husband, a man in his 60s from Stockport in northern England, shared images of the sexual abuse.
“From 2023…he actually began inviting other men to his home and filmed himself and others raping and sexually abusing his wife while she lay unconscious in bed,” prosecutors said.
In one text message exchange, one of the co-defendants becomes alarmed and warns the victim’s husband, “What happened to that guy in France?”, referring to Dominique Perico, who was convicted along with dozens of other men of raping or sexually assaulting his ex-wife Gisele in a case that shocked France and caused a cultural reckoning.
The husband, who pleaded guilty in September to multiple counts of rape, sexual assault and administering drugs with intent to induce coma or overwhelm his wife, cannot be named to protect her privacy. He remains in custody and will be sentenced at a later date.
The nine people on trial deny all charges. Four other co-defendants have also previously pleaded guilty to sex crimes.
Prosecutors said the husband sexually abused his wife for more than 20 years, first taking advantage of her drinking enough to put her into a deep sleep, then using a “blackout cocktail of drugs” to keep her awake during the abuse.
Prosecutors said the man shared footage and photos of the incident online with other men, “reveling in the fact that (the victim) was either asleep or unconscious and completely unaware of what was being done to him.”
The court heard the couple had been together for 44 years and had two children.
Seven of the nine people are suspected of visiting the victim’s home. “They all knew that (the victim) was not actively participating in the activity, that she did not consent, and they all did not reasonably believe that she consented to what they were doing,” prosecutors argued.
But prosecutors say the men had varying degrees of knowledge. “Some of the men may have known that other men were involved, but others may not have known. Some may have only known that (the victim) was incapacitated by alcohol rather than being incapacitated by drugs,” they said. “That is reflected in the various charges they are facing.”
The husband’s abuse was discovered after an undercover journalist infiltrated one of these online groups, in which one user “claimed to be involved in drugging his wife and inviting strangers to rape her while she was unconscious,” prosecutors said.
The user was identified and police obtained a warrant to search the address. Prosecutors said they seized various items, including a Samsung Galaxy phone containing “more than one million photos and videos” documenting the abuse.
According to prosecutors, the victim stated that she had never met the defendants and had no intentional sexual contact with them.
Prosecutors said she only learned of the abuse when police came to her home one afternoon in October 2025, adding that “her life as she knew it was over.”
