Four men accused of sexual offences against Joanne Young are on trial at Winchester Crown Court. Norman Mackson, 48, Richard Wilkins, 62, Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, and Mohammed Hassan, 38, have denied the charges.
According to the BBC, charges have also been brought against Joanne’s former husband, Philip Young, 50, a former councillor, who has admitted drugging and raping her over a 13-year period.
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Prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told the jury that the case concerned “whether it is ever reasonable to have sex with an unknown woman without first obtaining her consent”.
Joanne Young has waived her right to anonymity. She told police that, as far as she knew, sex with her husband had been “quite normal” and “always monogamous”.
However, she described waking up on one occasion in 2023 with her hands tied and her eyes covered, while a man she thought was her husband performed a sexual act on her. The court also heard that another man had held her hand.
Jones explained that Joanne believed her husband was performing the act, but in fact he “was directing another unknown person”, who “was taking his place without her knowledge”. The prosecutor said Joanne had encountered only “the visible part of a much bigger problem in her relationship”, which was “far more invasive and shocking”.
According to Jones, Young had advertised his wife on Craigslist, Grindr and swinging websites, seeking “strangers to come and sleep with his wife” so that “anyone could do whatever they wanted to her”.
The prosecutor said Young presented this as a shared sexual fantasy, but there was no evidence from Joanne to support that claim. Instead, the photographs posted in the advertisement showed her motionless, tied to a bed and with her eyes covered.
Jones added that the drink the couple shared appeared intended to put Joanne in a state in which people responding to the advertisement could do whatever they wanted while she was unaware or unable to remember anything.
Norman Mackson, from Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, has denied a charge of rape in 2017. Richard Wilkins, from Toothill, Swindon, Wiltshire, has pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and sexual assault by penetration in 2016.
Connor Sanderson-Doyle, from Swindon, has denied charges of sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching in 2016. Mohammed Hassan, also from Swindon, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual touching in 2023.
Philip Young has pleaded guilty to 14 counts of voyeurism, meaning secretly watching people in intimate situations; 11 counts of rape; 11 counts of administering a substance with intent; seven counts of sexual assault by penetration; four counts of sexual assault; and one count of publishing an indecent image.
Between 2010 and 2024, the former councillor published more than 500 intimate photographs and videos of his former wife. He also recorded her performing private acts for his sexual gratification, without her consent.
Young, who previously lived in Swindon and now lives in Enfield, London, also admitted three counts of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing prohibited images of children and four counts of possessing extreme pornographic material.
Dean Hamilton, 47, from Street, Somerset, the sixth defendant, has pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault by penetration, two counts of sexual assault and one count of rape. Young and Hamilton will be sentenced after the trial concludes, which is expected to take up to four weeks.
