Trial of nine men hears rapist husband was 'monster'

Warning: This article contains distressing content

A man who drugged and raped his wife for more than 20 years could turn in a minute from an apparently loving husband into a "monster", a court has heard.

The man, in his 60s, from Stockport, has admitted committing the offences against his wife without her knowledge and allowing other men to engage in sexual activity with her at their marital home.

He will give evidence against nine men on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court who are alleged to have indulged in the same "barbaric fantasies".

Continuing her opening of the prosecution case, Louise Oakley KC showed jurors a series of photographs from summer 2025 of the couple sitting on a garden sofa.

Oakley said: "They have their arms wrapped around each other and are smiling. They look a normal, happy couple.

"That, you may think, is the imagery that sums up his depravity. He can be like that one minute and then the next be the monster we have seen on many, many occasions.

"She was completely unaware of what he was doing to her."

The court heard that later in the evening the husband had sent a photograph to Jordan Wallace, 31 – one of the nine men on trial – which showed him behind his wife who was now laid on the garden sofa.

Oakley said: "You can see how he has undone her shirt and blouse, and has now exposed her breasts.

"Just look at her now. Gone are the happy, smiling grins. Her head is rolled back, her mouth is open and we suggest she is now not conscious."

Later she was moved from the garden to the couple's bedroom where he subjected her to a "degrading and sustained" sexual assault as she remained fast asleep, Oakley said.

The jury was told hours later the husband messaged another defendant, Alan Keelan, 42, to invite him to the couple's home at a time when the Crown say his wife was still "beyond able to communicate".

Oakley said: "The husband expressly told him she was upstairs, drunk and passed out."

Keelan, of Wythenshawe, Manchester, is said to be among several of the defendants who met the husband through fabswingers.com, an online messaging site, in a bid to find like-minded men who had a sexual interest in unconscious and unresponsive women.

Wallace is also alleged to have abused the man's wife after he responded to a post from the husband on the website.

Oakley said the husband drugged his wife with a sedative and alcohol and wanted to find someone local because he was unsure how long she would stay passed out.

When Wallace, also from Wythenshawe, asked him to "prove" she was not conscious the husband sent him an image and a video of her, said the prosecutor.

Wallace messaged: "What if she wakes up?"

The husband replied: "She won't."

Oakley said any suggestion that the wife opened the door to Wallace on his arrival in the early hours was a "lie".

"She did not and could not do that because she had been knocked out unconscious for a number of hours," Oakley said.

Philip Wild, 59, and Mohammed Sabir, 28, both from Stockport, are alleged to also have met the husband through fabswingers,com and to have sexually abused his wife in early 2025 on a single night after they were invited to the couple's address.

Alleged contact offenders who visited the couple's home are taxi driver Wild; recruitment agency worker Sabir; building supplies employee Wallace, 31; industrial cleaning firm worker Keelan, 42; retiree Robert Stewart, 70; sheet metal worker Richard Townsend, 38; and senior paramedic Jonathan Kirk, 43.

The prosecution alleges two non-contact offenders, who "hid behind a screen" as they conspired to administer substances to the wife, are kitchen firm sales rep David Graves, 60 and self-employed mechanic Daniel Rayner, 42.

Stewart, of Stockport, denies rape, conspiracy to rape and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent.

Graves, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, denies conspiracy to rape, conspiracy to assault by penetration and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent.

Wild denies sexual assault, attempted rape, assault by penetration and conspiracy to rape. Rayner denies conspiracy to rape, conspiracy to assault by penetration and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent.

Sabir denies rape and conspiracy to rape. Wallace denies rape and attempted rape. Keelan denies attempted rape and assault by penetration.

Townsend, of Heywood, Greater Manchester, denies assault by penetration. Kirk, of Stockport, denies rape and conspiracy to rape.

The offences are said to have taken place on dates between 2015 and 2025.

The husband, who cannot be identified to protect his wife's anonymity, will be sentenced at a later date.

Four other men who pleaded guilty at earlier hearings to various offences linked to the case will also be sentenced later.

They are Keith Fotheringham, 59, of Dundee, Scotland; Karl Lindsay, 56, of Taunton, Somerset; Sean Peers, 38, of Stockport; and Graham Brougham, 74, of Northwich, Cheshire.

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