A former Conservative councillor advertised his wife online for men to sexually abuse her after drugging, shackling and blindfolding her, a court has heard.
Philip Young, 50, recruited four men who allegedly abused Joanne Young in the couple's family home, a jury was told. Mrs Young, now 49, has waived her right to anonymity during the trial.
Court hears of abuse over 13 years
Winchester Crown Court was told the mother-of-three had been unaware of the attacks against her, with only a "nightmare" sense of another person being present by her bed.
Sarah Jones KC, prosecuting, said Young used Craigslist, Grindr and swinging websites on which to advertise his spouse, and four men visited the home in Swindon, Wiltshire, to abuse the woman.
Young, who was a Tory councillor for Swindon Borough councillor for Covingham and Nythe between 2007 and 2010, has pleaded guilty to a total 56 charges, including multiple counts of rape against Mrs Young across a 13-year period.
Wife's account of the abuse
Speaking at Winchester Crown Court, Ms Jones KC said Mrs Young would wake up to find herself blindfolded and with handcuffs on with no idea that she had been abused.
The court was told Mrs Young said: "Always monogamous...physically and emotionally...the traditional sense of marriage...it was us two kind of till the end."
Ms Jones KC said Mrs Young first recalled an incident when she had fallen asleep after having a night out. Ms Jones KC added: "She recalled she 'had the blindfold on and the restraints, kind of all the wrist things on.'"
"Phil's behaviour had not been limited to inviting a single man in simply for the purposes of watching the two of them having sex... What she had considered to be already a gross invasion, a betrayal of her trust was far far more invasive and shocking," the prosecutor added.
Defendants and trial continues
Ms Jones said that Mrs Young also recalled an incident from earlier in her marriage which Mrs Young described as: "I just remember how scared I was, it was not a normal, er, it was a really terrified, scared of something and I don't know what. So, that's the only thing I can say when you ask, you know, if (there was) something else."
Mrs Jones said: "It turned out that what she had thought was a literal night terror was not a baseless fear or some kind of nightmare. Somehow, Mrs Young, without being able to recall what was being done to her body without any consultation, had a sense that pressure was being placed upon her to agree to others being involved in her and her husband's intimate life."
"The very idea terrified her. The reality would turn out to be even worse."
Mr Young had advertised her on Craigslist, Grindr and swinging websites, he sought strangers to come and sleep with his wife, any age, any race - but as close to Swindon as possible so that when the circumstances were right they could be seized upon immediately.
"He presented it as a kink for both of them but there was no information from Joanne herself to support this and the photos he posted of her to advertise his offer showed her inanimate and tied to the bed blindfolded.
"The nightcap they shared it appeared would be used to plunge her into a state where anything could be done to her by whoever answered and she would be unaware or unable to remember."
The four defendants who have been charged jointly with Young, who has admitted his role in the offences, 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.
A sixth defendant, Dean Hamilton, 47, from Street, Somerset, has admitted one charge of assault by penetration, two of sexual assault and one of rape. He and Young will be sentenced at the conclusion of the trial.
The four defendants deny the offences and the trial continues.
