During the hearing on Monday, the prosecutor told the jury that the man’s phone, seized by police following his arrest, contained more than a million photographs and videos documenting his abuse of his wife as well as assaults committed by other men, including some of the defendants currently on trial.

A British man who drugged and raped his wife for more than 20 years and invited other men to sexually assault her, had over a million photographs and videos documenting the abuse on his mobile phone, a court in the UK has heard.

Prosecutors described the man as someone who led a “double life”, hiding years of alleged sexual violence behind the appearance of a respectable family life.

The disturbing details emerged on Monday as the trial of nine men accused of various sexual offences against the woman opened at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.

In September, the man, who is in his 60s and has not been named to protect his wife’s identity, pleaded guilty to 62 charges in connection to the case.

During the hearing on Monday, the prosecutor, Louise Oakley, told the jury that the man’s phone, seized by police following his arrest, contained more than a million photographs and videos documenting his abuse of his wife as well as assaults committed by other men, including some of the defendants currently on trial.

Oakley described the device as a “confession booth” containing the husband’s “darkest secrets” and “barbaric sexual fantasies”, some dating back to 2004.

“There were over a million photographs and videos cataloguing not only his abuse of his wife but abuse on her committed by others, including those in the dock today,” she told the court, according to AFP.

“There is no doubt he lived a double life masked in respectability,” the prosecutor added.

A MARRIAGE THAT CONCEALED YEARS OF ABUSE

Opening the prosecution’s case, Oakley described a couple who appeared to be looking forward to retirement, enjoying their home and garden, spending time with family and friends, and going on holidays abroad.

However, behind that outwardly ordinary existence, the husband subjected his wife to years of sexual abuse by repeatedly administering drugs that left her unconscious and unaware of what was happening.

The woman, now in her 60s, believed she had not had sex for nine years, the BBC reported. Prosecutors told the jury that she had, in fact, been repeatedly drugged and raped by her husband and the other men.

Oakley said the husband used a combination of substances to make his wife “completely unaware” of the abuse.

Some of the accused men allegedly operated from behind mobile phones and computer screens, conspiring with the husband over several years to administer drugs that would leave the woman vulnerable to sexual assault.

From 2023, the husband allegedly began bringing men to their home and recording himself and others raping his unconscious wife.

The prosecutor said some of the men allegedly entered and left the property under cover of darkness, taking care not to be seen or heard, while others allegedly participated remotely by encouraging the abuse or assisting in other ways.

“They too were leading double lives,” Oakley told the jury, according to the BBC.

HUSBAND, FOUR OTHERS PLEAD GUILTY

The husband pleaded guilty in September to 62 sexual offences against his wife, including rape, administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower her, sharing intimate images and assault by penetration.

Four other men have also admitted various offences in connection with the case. They are Keith Fotheringham, 59, from Dundee in Scotland; Sean Peers, 38, from Stockport; Graham Brougham, 74, from Northwich in Cheshire; and Karl Lindsay, 55, from Taunton in Somerset.

The nine remaining defendants, aged between 28 and 70, deny various charges, including rape, sexual assault and conspiracy to administer a substance with the intention of stupefying or overpowering the woman.

The prosecution has identified seven of them as alleged contact offenders, accused of physically participating in the abuse. They include paramedic Jonathan Kirk, 43; taxi driver Philip Wild, 59; amateur football coach Alan Keelan, 42; recruitment agency worker Mohammed Sabir, 28; Jordan Wallace, 31, who worked for a building supplies agency; sheet metal worker Richard Townsend, 37; and retired man Robert Stewart, 70.

The other two defendants, Daniel Rayner and David Graves, are described as alleged non-contact offenders. They are accused of not physically attending the woman’s home but allegedly encouraging the abuse or helping facilitate it through other means.

The husband and 13 other men were initially accused of conspiring to abuse the woman. Four of the accused men have since admitted offences, while the trial of the remaining nine continues.

CASE REKINDLES ATTENTION ON DRUG-FACILITATED SEXUAL ABUSE

The Manchester trial is among two cases currently being heard in Britain involving allegations that men arranged for strangers to sexually abuse their wives after drugging them.

A separate trial involving four men began in Winchester, southern England, last week.

The cases have drawn renewed attention to organised drug-facilitated sexual assault, especially with the high-profile case of Gisele Pelicot in France, whose then-husband, Dominique Pelicot, was convicted in 2024 of drugging her and arranging for other men to rape her over nearly a decade.

All 51 co-defendants were also convicted of offences linked to the abuse. Pelicot waived her right to anonymity and insisted that the trial be held in public.

(Inputs from the BBC, AFP)