A man who sexually abused his wife over a 20-year period arranged for drugs to be sent to the home of a late relative, a court has heard.
He allegedly also searched online articles to research the “chilling ease” with which he could get hold of “date rape” drugs. When he did get hold of some he complained they were hard to dissolve in liquid and, when crushed, they just made wine cloudy and taste very bitter.
The court heard he also received advice from others he was in contact with on social media offering practical solutions, including hiding them in his wife’s food.
Message Reveals Failed Attempt
But the court heard in a message sent in May 2021, the husband said he “had tried the tablets, but they tasted so bitter” that his wife “thought there was something wrong with the curry”.
The husband, who cannot be named, has already admitted to drugging his wife to rape and sexually abuse her over more than two decades, between 2004 and 2025.
Nine Men on Trial
Nine men are on trial at Manchester Minshull Street crown court accused of sexual offences. Four other men have pleaded guilty to a variety of offences.
Louise Oakley KC prosecuting, told the court the husband met one of the defendants David Graves, 60, in a chat group before they quickly moved to talking on Skype.
Graves encouraged the husband to take images of his wife and offered him some “tablets” and “relaxants” in exchange, the jury was told today.
The prosecution said Graves knew of the husband’s desire to “share” his wife. He had told him of encounters with other men touching her, and they spoke about Graves “doing her”, the court heard.
Plans Thwarted by Covid
By 2020, Ms Oakley said Covid had “thwarted” the husband’s plans, and he was “left building his collection of imagery on his own”.
In May 2020, the husband was said to have taken a picture of his wife whilst he was “conducting an eye check”, to prove if she was unconscious.
In conversations with Graves the husband made it clear that drugs were “what he needed,” the court heard. Graves said he had sent “three lots” of drugs to the husband, but they had not arrived, the jury was told.
Ms Oakley told the court the husband became “so desperate” he sent the address of a late relative for drugs to be sent to, saying: “Does it get any worse than that?”
The court heard that when the tablets didn’t arrive, the husband accused Graves of not posting them. He replied: “ffs I want the s*** used as much as you do”, and they agreed Graves would film himself posting the drugs.
Ms Oakley said “the agreement” was that Graves would provide the tablets while husband would supply the sexual abuse imagery.
Expanding Catalogue of Imagery
The jury was also told how the husband had expanded his “catalogue of imagery” of him abusing his wife and would chat with others online discussing his desire to share her and render her unconscious throughout 2016, 2017 and 2018.
Ms Oakley said he was a “working man” but the offending took place at night, in the morning and in the afternoon.
The jury was shown imagery of a man the prosecution says is the husband “inflicting injury” on his wife when she was “completely unaware” and a message which showed he “thought what he was doing was fun”.
The court heard the husband read a story on a newspaper website about the “chilling ease” of getting date rape drugs and searched Reddit for “where do people get date rape drugs”.
Ms Oakley said: “His perversity did not wane. He wanted to share her but recognised that alcohol alone was not going to be enough.”
He was “so desperate” he would share imagery of his own wife “with complete strangers and then discuss how they would supply him with drugs in order that she be raped”.
Contact via Craigslist
Ms Oakley told the court the husband first made contact with another of the defendants, Robert Stewart, 70, on classified ads website Craigslist in 2015.
It is alleged he later shared images of his wife while she was “drunk” and “unaware” or “unconscious” and he was abusing her.
The court heard as long ago as 2015, Stewart knew what the husband was doing to his wife and they spoke about date rape drugs and spiking her drink.
During a meeting, Stewart allegedly gave him some of his own medication and it is said would later contact him and ask if she was “out of it” so he could go round. He did visit on one occasion but the woman had not been sufficiently “out of it”, stirred and he left, the jury heard.
Ms Oakley said this was the husband's “first big step” in “realising his own fantasy” and the arrangement was to be his “blueprint” for future offending. But taking that next step “perhaps was easier said than done”.
The court also heard the husband sent an image of his unconscious wife to Stewart on New Year's Eve 2021 with the message “hope you have a great new year”.
The nine men on trial, who deny a range of offences, are David Graves, 60, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire; Daniel Rayner, 42, of Whitstable, Kent; Philip Wild, 59, of Stockport; Mohammed Sabir, 28, of Stockport; Jonathan Kirk, 43, of Stockport; Jordan Wallace, 31, of Wythenshawe, Manchester; Alan Keelan, 42, of Wythenshawe; Robert Stewart, 70, of Stockport, and Richard Townsend, 38, of Heywood, Greater Manchester.
The case continues.
