A former Conservative councillor allegedly promoted his wife on Craigslist, Grindr and swinging websites, inviting strangers to sexually abuse her while she lay drugged and unconscious, a court has heard.
Philip Young, 50, admitted almost 50 sexual offences against Joanne Young, who has waived her right to anonymity, at Winchester Crown Court earlier this year.
Prosecutors say Mr Young repeatedly gave his former wife drugs and carried out a campaign of abuse spanning 13 years.
Four other men – Norman Macksoni, 48, Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, Richard Wilkins, 62, and Mohammed Hassan, 38 – are on trial at the same court over allegations that they assaulted Ms Young, 49, in separate incidents between 2016 and 2023.
Macksoni, from Sharnbrook in Bedfordshire, denies one count of rape. Wilkins, of Toothill, Swindon, Wiltshire, denies rape and assault by penetration.
Sanderson-Doyle, of Swindon, denies sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching, while Hassan, also from Swindon, denies one count of sexual touching.
Jurors were told that the prosecution does not allege any of the four men gave Ms Young the substances.
However, prosecutor Sarah Jones KC said the effects of the drugs on Ms Young were clear. She warned that some defendants might argue they believed they had consent through her husband, who was previously a Conservative councillor on Swindon Borough Council.
The jury will have to decide whether the men genuinely believed Ms Young had consented, or whether they relied on what Mr Young told them, took advantage of the opportunity he created, or simply disregarded her welfare.
Ms Jones said: ‘This case is, in effect, about whether it is ever reasonable to have sex or to begin to have sexual contact with an unknown woman without checking with her first, whether it is ever reasonable to think someone truly can give consent on another’s behalf.’
Philip Young admitted almost 50 sexual offences against his ex-wife Joanne earlier this year, including rape, drugging her and voyeurism
Four men are on trial accused of sexually assaulting Ms Young, who has waived her right to anonymity
Norman Macksoni, of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, denies one count of rape
She added: ‘I am afraid you are going to have to contend with some depressingly awful and sordid material. You are going to see videos of things you cannot then unsee and may find you can’t forget.’
The court heard that Mr Young had particular sexual interests, including blindfolding and restraining his wife. He had also tested her reaction by asking whether she might ever sleep with another person.
Ms Jones KC said: ‘He asked if she would ever want to sleep with someone else, she replied very clearly “No” and she said “he made some joke about, um, as long as I could watch you”. There was no way he would ever think it was acceptable at all.’
The prosecutor said the idea of his wife having sex with another person became fixed in Mr Young’s mind, prompting him to find a way to fulfil the fantasy without her knowledge.
In 2015, customs officers intercepted a package of sedatives being sent to Mr Young from India, the court heard. When police later visited him, he denied knowing anything about the drugs.
Expert testing found that Ms Young had been exposed to sedatives over an extended period. Evidence indicated she had taken ketamine and zolpidem, drugs known for their sedating and memory-impairing effects, during several months in 2023 and 2024.
Ms Jones said Mr Young used photographs taken without his wife’s knowledge to advertise her on websites including Craigslist and Grindr.
She said: ‘He sought strangers to come and sleep with his wife – any age, any race – but as close to Swindon as possible so that when the circumstances were right they could be seized upon immediately.
‘He presented it as a kink for both of them but there was no information from Joanne herself to support this and the photos he posted of her to advertise his offer showed her inanimate and tied to the bed blindfolded.
‘The nightcap they shared it appeared would be used to plunge her into a state where anything could be done to her by whoever answered and she would be unaware or unable to remember.’
She added: ‘We don’t know how regularly this was done or to what level but the picture that is building is one of considerable danger to Joanne Young.’
The court heard that Mr Young, a disgraced business consultant, allegedly recorded three of the four men as they assaulted his wife, whom they had not previously known.
During an alleged assault by Mr Wilkins in July 2016, Ms Young was reportedly heard snoring as she was attacked on her own bed.
‘She can be heard snoring. She is quite evidently asleep,’ Ms Jones KC said, adding that Mr Wilkins and Mr Young appeared to communicate in whispers.
The jury was also told that Mr Young recorded a seven-minute video in which Macksoni allegedly raped Ms Young at their Swindon home in February 2017.
Ms Jones KC said Macksoni, a former singer, did not speak to Ms Young during the recording. She described Ms Young’s speech as ‘slurred and confused’ as she asked her husband whether he was filming after hearing a beeping noise.
Connor Sanderson-Doyle was 21 when he allegedly answered an advert placed by Mr Young on Craigslist. The court heard that Mr Young sent him explicit details about what his wife supposedly liked and did not like, describing the encounter as a ‘bit of a quickie’.
Richard Wilkins, 62, from Swindon, denies one count of rape and one of assault by penetration
Connor Sanderson-Doyle, of Swindon, faces charges of sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching
Mohammed Hassan, 38, of Swindon, denies one count of sexual touching
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Ms Jones KC told jurors that Sanderson-Doyle had been identified as the masked man shown in a June 2016 video. He allegedly assaulted Ms Young while she was ‘shackled on the bed’, with the recording capturing her saying ‘no’.
When he was arrested in May 2025, Sanderson-Doyle allegedly told officers that he thought he was dealing with a married couple who were ‘trying to live out whatever their kink is’. He said he got the ‘vibe she wasn’t enjoying it or comfortable and stopped’.
He told police that Mr Young had said, ‘I don’t think she’s feeling it tonight’, after which he left.
There is no video recording of the alleged incident involving Hassan, who was traced through explicit messages exchanged with Mr Young on Grindr.
Prosecutors allege that Hassan was invited to watch Mr Young have sex with his ex-wife in their bedroom without her consent in February 2023. Ms Young was blindfolded and is said to have realised someone else was present when he touched her wrist.
Ms Jones said: ‘She said she was trying to take the wristband or the blindfold off… and a hand had intervened to stop her.
‘She said: “I was obviously really shocked because, obviously you don’t expect someone else to be in your bedroom. Phil said to the person, ‘Get down,’ and the person ducked at the end of the bed.”‘
The following morning, Mr Young allegedly apologised and admitted that he had invited somebody to watch the couple have sex without telling her.
Ms Jones said: ‘It turned out of course that she had stumbled upon the edges of a far greater issue in her relationship. What she had considered to be already a gross invasion, a betrayal of her trust was far, far more invasive and shocking.’
Mr Young came to police attention several months later after ‘extreme images’ appeared on a messaging application, the court heard.
Officers discovered videos showing Ms Young engaged in sexual activity with men she had allegedly met through the internet while she was ‘shackled and blindfolded’.
‘The world she thought she knew had entirely tilted on its axis,’ the prosecutor said.
Ms Jones said all four defendants were expected to argue that they believed Ms Young was consenting. However, she described that position as their ‘last desperate throw of the dice’.
‘In respect of all four defendants none now suggest that Mrs Young was actually consenting. Each agrees that she was not.
‘But what each defendant is likely to say is that they believed at the time that she was consenting and to argue that such a belief was reasonable in the circumstances,’ she added.
‘It is their last desperate throw of the dice to convince certainly you and perhaps even themselves that they are not rapists or sexual offenders.
‘They wanted to enact their fantasy and Phil Young’s fantasy and they did not care about Jo Young’s feelings at all.’
(Left to right) Norman Macksoni, Connor Sanderson-Doyle, Richard Wilkins and Mohammed Hassan face allegations of sexual offences against Joanne Young
Philip Young pictured with his ex-wife Joanne, who prosecutors say endured 13 years of sexual abuse
At Winchester Crown Court in January, Mr Young 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 count of publishing an obscene article.
He admitted recording his 49-year-old former wife carrying out private acts without her consent for his own sexual gratification more than 200 times between 2010 and 2024.
He also published intimate photographs and videos of Ms Young without her consent more than 500 times, the court heard.
In May this year, the 50-year-old, who had more recently lived in Enfield, north London, pleaded guilty to three charges of making indecent images of children and one charge of possessing prohibited images of children in July 2024.
He further admitted four charges of possessing an extreme pornographic image between January 2019 and January 2024.
Judge Mr Justice Saini reminded jurors that Mr Young’s guilty pleas did not establish the guilt of the four men currently on trial.
‘The evidence against Mr Young is different in part to the evidence against these offences,’ he said.
‘For example, as you will hear, Mr Young has pleaded guilty to many offences committed against Joanne Young over many years, which includes admitting that he administered drugs to Mrs Young in order to commit sexual offences against her.
‘By contrast, it is not suggested that any of these defendants administer any substance to Mrs Young or were present when it was administered although the prosecution says it effects were apparent.’
A sixth defendant, Dean Hamilton, 47, of Street, Somerset, has admitted one count of assault by penetration, two counts of sexual assault and one count of rape.
Mr Young and Hamilton will be sentenced after the conclusion of the trial, which is expected to last up to four weeks.
Mr Young was a Conservative councillor on Swindon Borough Council from 2007 until he stepped down in 2010, saying he wanted to devote more time to his family and business.
He later became a director of several companies and most recently worked as the chief operating officer of a consultancy firm.
The trial continues.
