Warning: This article contains distressing content
A woman who was unconscious while raped by her husband and sexually assaulted by other men was knocked out with drugs that could have killed her, a jury has been told.
At Minshull Street Crown Court, prosecutor Louise Oakley told the jury the victim, from the Stockport area, was found to have 11 non-prescribed drugs in her system including morphine, ketamine, diazepam, cocaine and zolpidem.
The court also heard the husband – who has admitted committing the offences against his wife without her knowledge and allowing other men to engage in sexual activity with her at their home – researched different drugs and the dangers of combining them with alcohol.
Nine men who are on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court deny a range of charges including rape and sexual assault.
On the third day of opening the prosecution’s case, Oakley told the court that after the husband was arrested, a sample of his wife’s hair had been taken and sent for testing by a toxicologist
The court also heard that between October 2014 and October 2025, the husband had extensively searched the internet trying to find information about medication, prescription and illicit substances, their effects, dosage, how to buy them and the dangers of mixing the drugs with alcohol.
When the husband was arrested, pipettes with zolpidem were found in the couple’s bedroom.
The trial heard that when mixed with alcohol, the drugs could be fatal.