A husband who drugged and raped his wife arranged for sedatives to be posted to his dead mother-in-law’s address, a court was told today.
asserted
court → drug → address
Co-defendant David Graves, who the husband met online and jurors heard encouraged him to commit the rapes, offered to send him an unknown substance in January 2021, jurors heard.
asserted
jurors → meet → January
Louise Oakley, prosecuting, told a trial of Graves and eight other men alleged to have been involved in abusing the woman: ‘So desperate is (the husband) that (he) sent him (his wife’s) mother’s address to post them to.
asserted
sent → prosecute → them
‘His mother-in-law had recently died and the house she had been living in was empty.
asserted
she → die → ?
Does it get any worse than that?’
asserted
it → get → that
The tablets did not arrive and the husband ‘accused Graves of not having posted them’.
asserted
husband → arrive → them
Jurors have been told the husband - who cannot be named to protect his wife's identity - began abusing her in 2004 and started involving other men in 2015.
asserted
who → tell → 2015
The woman's ordeal came to an end after journalists infiltrated an online messaging forum last October and police were called, the court heard.
asserted
court → come → forum
The trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court heard tablets eventually arrived in March 2021 but, Ms Oakley said, they proved hard to crush and tasted ‘bitter’ when mixed in wine.
asserted
they → hear → wine
‘David Graves went on to provide practical solutions including that they be hidden in her food.’
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they → go → food
Graves, 60, and the husband, who first contacted each other in 2018, exchanged a large volume of messages.
asserted
who → contact → messages
Eight of the nine men on trial, clockwise from top left: Philip Wild, Jordan Wallace, Robert Stewart, Jonathan Kirk, Richard Townsend, Alen Keelan, Mohammed Sabir and David Graves
David Graves, 60, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, denies three charges of conspiracy to rape, assault and administer substances
Graves asked for new material and making derogatory comments calling the wife a ‘slut’ and ‘old tart’ – adding ‘she deserves it’.
Ms Oakley said Graves became ‘incredibly impatient’ for the husband to send him images of the wife being abused.
‘(The husband) said to him, our perversion isn’t number one priority.
asserted
perversion → deny → him
Well, it must have been pretty close to the top of the list,’ Ms Oakley added.
asserted
Oakley → add → list
The trial heard how the first stranger to come to the husband’s house was another defendant, Robert Stewart, 70, in 2016.
asserted
stranger → hear → 2016
He left without doing anything because the wife ‘stirred’, Ms Oakley said, and this led to the husband wanting to obtain drugs after deciding alcohol alone was ‘unreliable’.
asserted
alcohol → leave → drugs
Stewart provided the husband with tramadol sleeping pills to use, the court was told.
asserted
court → provide → pills
It was a ‘blueprint for future offending’ despite the ‘inherent dangers’ of combining drugs and alcohol, the prosecution said.
asserted
prosecution → combine → drugs
The court heard the husband carried out online research including news articles and even charity websites about sleeping pills, side-effects and use of date rape drugs.
asserted
husband → hear → drugs
He even visited a website in 2017 giving instructions on how to make date-rape drug GHB, jurors were told.
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jurors → visit → GHB
In the early part of 2019, the husband purchased Zolpidem sleeping tablets online, Ms Oakley said.
asserted
Oakley → purchase → tablets
She read out messages which continued with numerous men at all hours, adding: ‘It’s hard to believe he was a working man.
asserted
he → read → hours
You have offending at night time, in the morning, in the early afternoon.
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You → have → afternoon
‘He thought what he was doing was fun.’
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doing → think → what
The prosecution said the husband was explicit to other men that his wife would not consent and ‘wouldn’t be interested’.
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wife → say → men
In one exchange with Graves in October 2018, Graves asked the husband ‘when did you last abuse her?’ and he replied: ‘Don’t keep a diary, lol (laugh out loud)’.
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he → ask → diary
In another message with an unidentified male, he wrote: ‘Help me knock her out’.
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me → write → her
Paramedic Jonathan Kirk is accused of two rapes and conspiracy to rape, which he denies
Kirk arriving at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court today for second day of trial
Robert Stewart, 70, warned the husband: 'Remember what happened to the guy in France'
Jordan Wallace is pictured outside Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester today
Social media image of Wallace, a walker and delivery driver accused of rape
Alan Keelan, 42, pictured at a football club awards presentation, is accused of three charges
Keelan pictured outside Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court this morning
On trial with Graves are Jonathan Kirk, 43, a senior paramedic; Robert Stewart, 70, a retired DJ; Mohammed Sabir, 28, a recruitment consultant; youth football coach Alan Keelan, 42; dog walker Jordan Wallace, 31; taxi driver Philip Wild, 60; metal worker Richard Townsend, 38; and Daniel Rayner, 42.
All deny a variety of sexual offences.
asserted
All → accuse → offences
In September, the woman's husband of 40 years admitted 62 charges including multiple rapes, jurors were told.
asserted
jurors → admit → rapes
Opening the trial yesterday, Ms Oakley said Stewart sent a message to the husband after he visited the house, urging him to 'delete all images' and saying 'remember what happened to the guy in France'.
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what → open → France
He wrote: 'Mate, have had a bad feeling about it all day.
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He → write → it
Remember what happened to the guy in France.
asserted
what → remember → France
Mohammed Sabir, 28, is the youngest defendant in the case and denies three rapes
Father-of-three Philip Wild, 58, Stockport, a taxi driver, is also accused of four counts
Richard Townsend, 38, denies assaulting the woman at her home
'
asserted
Townsend → deny → home
If she caught you out it would be a whole lot of trouble and end your marriage and ruin your life.
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it → catch → life
'The reference in the message related to the man in France who had been raping his wife, a lady by the name of Gisèle Pelicot,' Ms Oakley said.
asserted
Oakley → relate → Pelicot
Stewart, Wild, Sabir and Kirk, all of Stockport, Greater Manchester, Graves, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, and Rayner, of Whitstable, Kent, deny conspiracy to rape between 2015 and 2025.
asserted
Stewart → deny → 2015
Graves and Rayner also deny conspiracy to assault by penetration between 2018 and 2025, while Stewart, Graves and Rayner deny conspiracy to administer a substance 'with the intention of stupefying or overpowering' the wife between 2015 and 2025.
asserted
Stewart → deny → 2015
Graham Brougham, 74, is the oldest of 14 defendants charged over the attacks
Sean Peers, 38, has admitted offences between September 2024 and November 2025
Keith Fotheringham, 58, who has pleaded guilty to four offences between 2023 and 2025
Former Taunton Town Football Club CEO Karl Lindsay, 56, has admitted charges
Wild is also charged with sexual assault in August 2023, plus attempted rape and assault by penetration in February 2025.
asserted
Wild → charge → February
Sabir denies three rapes, in February 2025 and twice in September 2025.
asserted
Sabir → deny → September
Wallace, of Stockport, denies rape and attempted rape in May 2025,
uncertain
Wallace → deny → May
Keelan, from Manchester, denies two attempted rapes and an assault by penetration, all in June 2025.
asserted
Keelan → deny → June
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
