Four men sexually assaulted a woman after her then-husband drugged her and advertised her on Craigslist, Grindr and swinging websites, a court has been told.

Norman Macksoni, 48, Richard Wilkins, 62, Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, and Mohammed Hassan, 38, are on trial at Winchester Crown Court after pleading not guilty to sexual offences against Joanne Young.

They are charged jointly with her ex-husband Philip Young, 50, a former councillor, who admitted to drugging and raping her over 13 years.

As the trial began, prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told the jury: “This case is about whether it is ever reasonable to have sex with an unknown woman without checking with her first.”

Warning: This story contains distressing details

Joanne Young, who has waived her right to anonymity, told police to her knowledge she had a “fairly normal” and “always monogamous” sex life with her husband.

But on one occasion in 2023, she said she woke up with restraints and a blindfold on while a man who she thought was her husband, was carrying out a sexual act on her.

Another man had his hand on her wrist, the court was told.

Jones told the jury Joanne believed her husband was performing the sexual act on her when in reality he was “stage managing another unknown person” who was “taking his place without her knowledge”.

She said Joanne had stumbled on “the edges of a far greater issue in her relationship”, which was “something far more invasive and shocking”.

Jones told the jury Young advertised Joanne online, seeking “strangers to come and sleep with his wife” so “anything could be done to her by whoever”.

“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,” she told the court.

“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,” she added.

The four accused are:

Young has admitted 14 counts of voyeurism, 11 of rape, 11 of administering a substance with intent, seven of assault by penetration, four of sexual assault and one of publishing an obscene article.

The former councillor also published more than 500 intimate images and videos of his ex-wife and recorded her doing private acts for his own sexual gratification without her consent between 2010 and 2024.

Young, formerly of Swindon but now living in Enfield in London, also admitted to three charges of making indecent images of children, one of possessing prohibited images of children and four charges of possessing an extreme pornographic image.

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.

Young and Hamilton will be sentenced at the end of the trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks.

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