Blindfolded wife ‘felt stranger’s hand’ during sex with husband, court told

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Wife ‘felt stranger’s hand’ during sex, court told

A composite image of the four defendants arriving at court. They are all wearing a hat or a hood, covering their face and eyes with glasses.Image source, Press Association
ByLeigh Boobyer

West of England
  • Published

A woman said she locked herself in a bathroom after realising her then-husband had allowed someone else in the bedroom while she was blindfolded and having sex, a jury has heard.

In a police interview played at Winchester Crown Court, Joanne Young said she was restrained when she felt a hand on her wrist which she believed did not belong to her now ex-husband Philip Young.

Joanne – who has waived her legal right to anonymity – said Young, who has admitted drugging and raping her, later apologised and told her he had invited someone to watch the couple have sex after browsing online forums.

Four men who Young is alleged to have recruited to abuse his wife at their home are now on trial.

Warning: This story contains distressing details

On the second day of the four men’s trial earlier, two police interviews with Joanne were played to the court.

During the first interview, dated 29 July 2024, Joanne said the incident when she hid in the bathroom had happened in February 2023 after a night out with friends.

She told police she could not “remember all of it”, but said Young had come upstairs at some point after she had gone to bed to sleep.

She said she later “woke up with a blindfold and restraints on”.

Joanne told the officer in the interview she loosened the restraint on her right hand as she was waking up, and then the restraint on her left hand.

At that point, she said, she felt a hand grip her wrist and as she tried to take her blindfold off, and Young – who she believed was at the end of the bed – said “get down” to someone.

Head and shoulders image of Joanne Young in a black top. She has black hair and is smiling. She is standing in a room in front of a painting.Image source, Wiltshire Police/PA Media

Joanne said she then saw someone ducking at the end of the bed and she ran to the bathroom and locked the door.

“I tried to undo the restraint and do the wrist on the left. There was a hand on my left wrist to stop me from doing those things,” she told police.

“The bed is a really big bed. So to have someone on the end of the bed and the left was not possible… I knew immediately.

“I had that moment of ‘that doesn’t make sense’. I took the restraint and blindfold off. There were two people in the room,” she added.

The jury heard the couple later discussed the incident, with Joanne telling police it was the first time she had ever seen her then-husband cry.

Joanne said she asked Young if he had ever invited anyone else to watch them have sex before, which he denied.

“It was so intrusive. I was so upset. He knows I would have never said yes to that,” she told police.

‘Shock and confusion’

Joanne told the officer: “I didn’t know if I should stay in the relationship or get myself out of the situation.”

She said she took the incident as a “one off” and tried to “move on”.

Asked by an officer if there was a discussion between Young and Joanne about having someone else in the relationship, she said: “There was a joke years ago, a bit of banter, where he said in the kitchen something like ‘would you ever want to sleep with someone else?’.

“I said no, and he said ‘as long as I can watch you’. We laughed it off but it was a no.”

“It was never a part of our relationship. There’d never been a discussion. He never asked me what I wanted, it wasn’t a conversation,” she added.

On the day Young was arrested, Joanne said he admitted to her he had shared images of her online without her consent.

Joanne said it felt like a “kick in the stomach” and she was left in “shock and utter confusion”.

She said: “What images? When? I’m assuming I was asleep? When did these get taken? It was such a split moment.”

“How he could do that to me. How he could do something that’s so intimate that’s not allowed. How can he do it? How can you do that and think that was okay?” she added.

The four men jointly charged with Young, 50, are accused of the following offences:

  • Connor Sanderson-Doyle, of Swindon, denies sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching

  • Norman Macksoni, of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, denies one count of rape

  • Richard Wilkins, of Toothill, Swindon, Wiltshire, denies one count of rape and one of assault by penetration

  • Mohammed Hassan, of Swindon, denies one count of sexual touching

Earlier, jurors were shown videos which allegedly showed Sanderson-Doyle, Wilkins and Macksoni sexually assaulting Joanne.

Young, a former Conservative Swindon councillor, previously 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.

He 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.

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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