A mother-of-three has told a court that when she thought she was having blindfolded sex with her husband she suddenly "felt someone else's hand" on her wrist. Joanne Young locked herself in a bathroom after discovering her husband had secretly brought another man into their home to sexually assault her.
Mrs Young was blindfolded and restrained and thought she was having sex with her husband Philip, 50, when she realised someone else was in the bedroom. The 49-year-old wife, who has waived her right to anonymity, told Winchester Crown Court the incident happened after a night out with friends in February 2023.
Wife's account of the incident
"I can't remember all of it," she said, "we had been out drinking with friends that evening and at some point after he had come upstairs, I had the blindfold on and the restraints. I had been having sex and I felt someone else's hand on my wrist - and it wasn't his hand because he was at the end of the bed on me - and the hand was over there."
"It was not the same person. The hand was there because I remember for some reason I was trying to take the wristband or the blindfold off. I was obviously really shocked because you don't expect someone else to be in your bedroom."
Mrs Young continued telling the court "Phil said to the person, 'Get down' and the person ducked at the end of the bed". "I don't know if they ran off first or I ran to the bathroom first, but I ended up in the bathroom and ran into the bathroom because I think I was just really shocked," she added.
"I didn't know what to do as there was this man in my house and I was naked, so I was staying in the bathroom for a bit not knowing whether to come out or not. Then when I came out, I didn't hear any noise in the bedroom. I didn't really know what to do. It's just such a shock."
Husband's confession
Mrs Young was recounting the incident in interviews recorded by the police that were played to the jury. She told officers she went downstairs and looked out of the window and saw a car she did not recognise parked nearby. "I just went back upstairs eventually, just sat in my room and eventually went to sleep because I didn't know who was in the house. Phil never came back up," she said.
"The next day we spoke about it briefly. It's probably one of the few times I've ever seen him upset. He doesn't cry, he doesn't get upset. I almost didn't know if it was real and I was waiting to see what he would say first. He apologised and said he was so sorry he had done that. He said that he had been looking in forums or been in some forums."
"He said: 'I invited someone around the house to watch us have sex'. I was really upset, shocked someone had been there, it was so intrusive, something that I would never ever accept or want. I asked him if it had been just that once or that he had done this before, and he said 'no, it's just this once'."
Young spoke with his wife again about the incident and said he would understand if she wanted to end their marriage, the court was told. "I just didn't bring it up. I just couldn't really, what do you say? It's done. It's horrible. I was just so shocked," Mrs Young told police. "I just stuck my head in the sand and carried on and didn't do anything about it and just took it at his word that it was a one-off."
Further revelations and trial details
But on the day he was arrested, Young confessed there had been other incidents. "He had come in to tell me that he had shared something online without my consent, images, I think he said. That was totally out of the blue," she said. "It brought me back to thinking about what happened in February. I just said to him, 'That thing in February, was that really the only time that happened?' He stood there and looked at me and said, 'No'. I said, 'Was it the same person?' He said, 'No, it was two people'."
Mrs Young described her sex life as "vanilla" and said she would not have consented to images of herself being taken. "I like to be in control of things in my life and you are giving control to someone else," she said, "it doesn't appeal to me, I do not understand, why would you need to have images?" She added that on finding out: "I was like a kick in the stomach, just utter shock and confusion and what images? When? I assume I am asleep because when did those images get taken."
Mrs Young told police they had been together for 22 years and married for 20 years and had a "normal" and "monogamous" sex life. She said she did not have a conversation with her husband about consent while asleep, and when asked whether "a specific fantasy of sleep in sex was a part of your relationship", she replied: "Absolutely not."
She described how on occasions she would wake up and a blindfold and wrist restraints were already on her while Young was having sex with her and being confused at what had happened. She said: "I always assumed, I kind of thought, I had a drink, did I fall back asleep? I wasn't entirely clear. But we would then have consensual sex, I wouldn't say stop. I would be surprised, 'How did that happen there?' It was occasional and always just the two of us."
The court was cleared for the videos of three of the incidents to be shown. The judge, Mr Justice Saini, had arranged to limit those who could view the footage out of concern for the privacy of Mrs Young, with only the jury, barristers, judge, defendants and two observing journalists allowed to remain in court.
Mrs Young, wearing a black top, attended court to answer a small number of questions from the barristers. She confirmed that she did not know the defendant Macksoni and had no knowledge of him coming to her bedroom. Responding to questions from Tom Godfrey, representing Hassan, Mrs Young confirmed that she felt a hand around her wrist during the incident in February 2023. She said that there were two people other than herself in the room, one who was touching her wrist and the other who was performing a sex act on her. Mrs Young added that she heard the voice of her husband and added: "It was close, so it was on my left."
The court has previously heard how her husband, a former Conservative councillor, had advertised his wife to other men on the internet. Young has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of abuse against his former spouse. Four men who Young is alleged to have recruited to abuse his wife at their Swindon home are now on trial.
The four defendants, who have been charged jointly with Young, are Norman Macksoni, 48, of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, who has denied one count of rape; and Richard Wilkins, 62, of Toothill, Swindon, Wiltshire, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of rape and one of assault by penetration. Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, of Swindon, has denied sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching; and Mohammed Hassan, 38, of Swindon, has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual touching.
Police began investigating Young in the summer of 2023 when they were notified he had uploaded extreme images to a Kik messaging app. Young, 50, has pleaded guilty to a total of 56 charges, and a sixth defendant, Dean Hamilton, 47, of Street, Somerset, has admitted one charge of assault by penetration, two of sexual assault and one of rape. They will be sentenced at the conclusion of the trial. The trial continues.
