A husband broke down in tears as he admitted 60 charges against him involving drugging and raping his wife over a 20-year period.
The man, in his 60s, repeatedly sobbed as he gave guilty pleas this afternoon to the dozens of charges of rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault and attempted rapes.
He also admitted administering a substance ‘with the intention of stupefying or overpowering’ her ‘so as to enable’ his wife to engage in sexual activity between November 2004 and October 2025.
The man, wearing a dark grey suit, blue shirt and dark blue tie, admitted a further charge of sharing intimate pictures or video footage.
He pleaded guilty to eight more charges of serious sexual assault.
The wife was present in the front row of the public gallery at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court with relatives as he entered his guilty pleas over 18 minutes.
She watched intently, holding family members’ hands as her husband spoke quietly from the dock. At one point, she leant forward with her head in her hands and appeared to wipe her eyes.
The husband, who had a respectable job, had already admitted 15 of the charges at an earlier hearing but was due to face trial for the other 45 counts.
Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, where the husband gave his guilty pleas at a hearing this afternoon
The offending was carried out at the family home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, up until the man’s arrest in October 2025.
A total of 13 other men are accused of offences against the wife.
They are aged between 29 and 74 and include an ambulance paramedic once pictured meeting Prince Harry during a royal visit.
Also among them are a former nightclub DJ, a football club chief executive and university technician.
A total of 12 of them have denied a range of offences including rape, conspiracy to rape, assault by penetration, sexual assault and conspiracy to administer a substance with intent.
One has pleaded guilty to charges including conspiracy to rape.
Ambulance paramedic Jonathan Kirk, 43, from Stockport, denies charges of rape, conspiracy to rape and conspiracy to commit assault by penetration between 2023 and 2025.
The oldest of the accused, pensioner Graham Brougham, 74, is charged with the same offences as Kirk, also over two years. He has entered not guilty pleas.
Meanwhile, former DJ Robert Stewart, 70, of Stockport, a divorced father-of-two and grandfather, denies two rapes and one count of conspiracy to rape between September and November 2025.
The youngest defendant, Mohammed Sabir, 29, of Heald Green, Stockport, faces five counts: three rapes, conspiracy to rape and conspiracy to commit assault by penetration between 2023 and 2025. He denies them all.
Married father-of-two Alan Keelan, 42, from Manchester, works as an accounts clerk and is a coach with Benchill Celtic Junior Football Club, Wythenshawe, one of the city’s oldest junior teams.
Keelan denies rape, two counts of attempted rape and one of conspiracy to rape between June and November 2025.
Dog walker and delivery driver Jordan Wallace, 31, from Stockport, denies rape, attempted rape and conspiracy to rape between May and November 2025.
Father-of-three Philip Wild, 58, of Stockport, a taxi driver, has pleaded not guilty to counts of attempted rape, conspiracy to rape, assault by penetration, conspiracy to commit assault by penetration and sexual assault between 2023 and 2025.
Unemployed Sean Peers, 38, of Stockport, denies he assaulted the woman by penetration and conspired to assault her by penetration between September 2024 and November 2025.
Former Taunton Football Club chief executive Karl Lindsay, 56, of Taunton, Somerset, is not accused of assaulting the victim – but of conspiracy to administer a substance with intent over two years.
The father-of-five, who has been married for over 34 years, is also accused of conspiracy to rape and conspiracy to sexually assault by penetration in the same period. He denies the charges.
Richard Townsend, 37, of Heywood, Greater Manchester, denies one count of conspiracy to commit assault by penetration and one count of assault by penetration.
Daniel Rayner, 42, from Whitstable, Kent, faces the same counts as Lindsay and has also pleaded not guilty.
And David Graves, 59, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, denies conspiracy to rape, conspiracy to commit assault by penetration and conspiracy to commit sexual assault.
The only defendant who has admitted charges is Keith Fotheringham, 59.
The twice-married father-of-two is a technician at the University of Dundee and lives in the Scottish city.
He pleaded guilty in February 2026 to four offences between 2023 and 2025: conspiracy to rape, conspiracy to commit assault by penetration, conspiracy to administer a substance with intent and assault by penetration.
All the defendants are in custody apart from Wallace, Kirk, Brougham, Keelan and Peers, who have been granted bail.
A trial is scheduled to start in October and is expected to last for at least two months.
