A man who drugged and raped his wife for more than 20 years told an online contact he “understands consent”, a jury has heard.
The husband pleaded guilty in September to 60 offences against the woman including rape, administering a substance with intent and sharing indecent images without her consent.
The prosecution said that from 2023 the husband invited other men to the couple’s home, where, it is alleged, he and others sexually abused her while she was unconscious and “out of it”.
The man, who is in 60s, from Stockport, Greater Manchester, cannot be identified to protect his wife’s anonymity. He will give evidence later this month against nine men on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court.
The husband was arrested in October 2025, after undercover journalists in Germany infiltrated a chat group on messaging app Telegram for people interested in sex with someone asleep or unconscious, the court heard.
Authorities were alerted, and an investigation identified the husband as one of the group users who had shared imagery of sexual abuse of his wife.
A mobile phone was seized from the address which was found to have one million photographs and videos said to have catalogued the abuse by the husband and other men.
The prosecution compared the phone to a “confession booth” which contained the husband’s “darkest secrets”.
He initially took advantage of his wife, asleep or unconscious, through alcohol and took videos and images he shared online, the jury has heard.
His internet browsing history between 2014 and 2025 revealed extensive searches for medication and drugs.