Husband ‘drugged and blindfolded wife and invited men to abuse her’

A husband drugged his unsuspecting wife and advertised her online to live out a fantasy of seeing her raped and sexually assaulted by strangers for 13 years, a court has heard.

Philip Young, 50, used pictures taken without his former partner Joanne’s knowledge in ads on swinging sites, Grindr, and Craigslist, a jury was told.

The court heard he ‘set about finding a way to realise his fantasy without her knowing’ as the idea became ‘fixed in his brain ’, prosecutor Sarah Jones said.

Ms Young, 49 – who has waived her right to anonymity – said she had ‘vanilla’ sexual tastes, and was ‘always monogamous… physically and emotionally… a traditional sense of marriage… it was us two, kind of, till the end,’ Ms Jones told jurors.

‘There was no way he would ever think it was acceptable at all.’

But Young – a former Conservative borough councillor – would spike her drinks, and she would wake to find herself blindfolded and with handcuffs on, with no idea that she had been abused.

Young, 50, had earlier pleaded guilty to 56 sex offences, jurors were told.

He recorded her more than 200 times without consent from 2010 and published ‘obscene’ material more than 500 times.

Four men yesterday went on trial at Winchester Crown Court accused of assaulting the mum-of-three between 2016 and 2023.

Three lived in Swindon, where Young ‘sought strangers – any age, any race – but as close as possible, so when the circumstances were right they could be seized upon immediately’.

Richard Wilkins, 62, denies one rape and one assault. Connor Sanderson-
Doyle, 32, pleads not guilty to sexual assault and sexual touching.

Mohammed Hassan, 38, denies sexual touching. Norman Macksoni, 48, of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, denies one count of rape.

Some were likely to claim they believed they had Ms Young’s consent via her husband, Ms Jones said.

‘He presented it as a kink for both of them but there was no information from Joanne to support this and photos he posted to advertise his offer showed her inanimate, tied to the bed blindfolded.’

The men are not accused of drugging Ms Young, the prosecutor said, but the ‘effects’ were apparent.

‘The nightcap they shared would be used to plunge her into a state where anything could be done to her by whoever answered and she was unaware or unable to recall.’

The court heard a packet of sedatives from India addressed to Young was stopped by customs in 2015. He denied knowledge of them when police called.

And analysis showed Ms Young was exposed to sedatives – including ketamine and zolpidem – up to 2024.

In one incident in 2023, blindfolded Ms Young said she was ‘shocked’ to feel ‘someone else’s hand’ on her wrist as Young had sex with her. She later said: ‘Phil said to the person, “Get down,” and they ducked,’ the jury was told.

Next day, Young apologised for inviting someone to watch. Ms Jones added: ‘It turned out she had stumbled upon a far greater issue. What she considered to be already a gross invasion, a betrayal of her trust, was far, far more invasive and shocking.’

Three of the men were seen on videos taken by Young, the court heard. Ms Jones warned the jury of eight men and six women: ‘You are going to have to contend with depressingly awful, sordid material. You will see videos you cannot unsee and may find you can’t forget.’

But they must decide if the defendants ‘truly believed they had consent’, if they ‘hid behind what they say they were told, enjoying the opportunity provided by Phil Young, or if they simply did not care’.

Young, who also admitted making indecent images of children and posessing extreme porn, will be sentenced at the end of the trial, along with a sixth defendant, Dean Hamilton, 47, of Street, Somerset, who admitted sex assaults and one rape. The trial continues.

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