Four men on trial over sexual assaults on woman drugged by ex-husband Philip Young

Opening of the trial

The trial of four men accused of sexually assaulting Joanne Young began at Winchester Crown Court on Tuesday, 27 October. The defendants are Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, Richard Wilkins, 62, Norman Macksoni, 48, and Mohammed Hassan, 38, who deny the offences, which prosecutors say were committed between the summer of 2016 and the winter of 2023. They are charged jointly with Philip Young, 50, Joanne's former husband and formerly a Swindon borough councillor, who has already pleaded guilty to multiple charges of abuse against her. Joanne Young, 49, has waived her right to anonymity. The jury has eight men and four women, and the trial is expected to last four weeks. Prosecutor Sarah Jones KC opened by framing the case around a single question.

“This case is about whether it is ever reasonable to have sex with an unknown woman without checking with her first.”

How the prosecution describes the abuse

Jones told jurors that Young placed adverts on Craigslist, Grindr and swinging websites inviting strangers to come and sleep with his wife, and that he framed it as a kink for both of them. She said the photographs he posted showed Joanne Young inanimate and tied to the bed, blindfolded. According to the prosecution, a nightcap the couple shared was used to put her into a state in which anyone who answered the adverts could do anything to her, while she remained unaware or unable to remember. The couple had married and had three children, now young adults, and from the outside they looked like an ordinary family. The prosecution said Joanne Young was unaware of what had been done to her when officers reached the family home in Swindon, Wiltshire. Jones described the impact on her in stark terms.

“The world she thought she knew had entirely tilted on its axis.”

Evidence from videos and police

Police began their inquiry after a report about extreme images Young had uploaded online. Searches of the family home and his electronic devices turned up videos that, according to Jones, show Joanne Young restrained in bed while other men were having sex with her. Three of the four defendants appear in the footage, Jones said. The jury also heard that police had been alerted when a packet containing a sedative, sent from India to Young, was intercepted, although he said he had not ordered it. Prosecutors also described a 2023 incident in which Joanne Young woke with restraints and a blindfold on, believing her husband was the man assaulting her, while another man had a hand on her wrist.

Young's guilty pleas and wider charges

Philip Young has pleaded guilty to 48 counts, and the charges cover voyeurism, rape, administering a substance with intent, assault by penetration, sexual assault and publishing an obscene article.

Voyeurism14

Rape11

Administering a substance with intent11

Assault by penetration7

Sexual assault4

Publishing an obscene article1

Voyeurism

14 counts

Rape

11 counts

Administering a substance with intent

11 counts

Assault by penetration

7 counts

Sexual assault

4 counts

Publishing an obscene article

1 counts

Data from the article text

The prosecution said that from 2015 he had been looking for drugs that would send his wife into a deep sleep, leaving her disoriented and unlikely to remember what happened. Between 2010 and 2024 he is also said to have recorded her private acts without her consent, and to have posted more than 500 intimate images and videos of her. Another man, Dean Hamilton, 47, has already pleaded guilty to rape and sexual assault.

What happens next

Sentences for Philip Young and Dean Hamilton will be decided after the trial, which is expected to last four weeks.

The four defendants continue to deny the charges, and the jury will spend the coming weeks viewing the videos that prosecutors describe as the bulk of the evidence.