Man admits sexually assaulting woman drugged by husband
PA MediaA man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman who had been drugged and abused by her husband without her knowledge.
The husband, who cannot be named to protect his wife's legal right to anonymity, is accused of inviting 13 other men to abuse her at their family home in the Stockport area of Greater Manchester.
Sean Peers, 38, was due to stand trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court earlier but admitted one count of assault by penetration on 15 September 2024.
The husband, who has already pleaded guilty to 60 offences against his wife, also admitted a fresh charge of rape and one of sexual assault. Both offences happened last summer.
One of the men accused of joining in the abuse, Keith Fotheringham, 59, from Dundee in Scotland, has already pleaded guilty to various offences.
There are a further 11 men due to stand trial who have denied abusing the same woman between 2018 to November 2025.
Peers, from Stockport, was granted conditional bail until sentence, which will take place at the conclusion of the trial involving the other men.
The husband, who is no longer part of the trial as a defendant, will also be sentenced at the conclusion of the case and has been remanded in custody.
A jury was sworn in early in September but the case has faced a series of delays for legal and practical reasons.
On Tuesday the nine women and three men of the jury, plus two female reserve jurors, were told that the husband had provided a witness statement detailing "what it is he says happened" after his guilty pleas.
Judge Maurice Greene said: "That statement is a long statement and that has been disclosed to all defence counsel and it contains a lot of detail."
The judge said the statement contained "lots of pages and lots of documents" and that lawyers in the case were "going through it carefully", which was ongoing work.
The jury were asked to return on Monday 19 October when the prosecution case against the remaining 11 defendants has been scheduled to open.
The other defendants are:
- Philip Wild, 58, from Stockport
- Jordan Wallace, 31, from Manchester
- Alan Keelan, 42, from Manchester
- Jonathan Kirk, 43, from Stockport
- Robert Stewart, 70, from Stockport
- Mohammed Sabir, 28, of no fixed abode
- Graham Brougham, 74, from Northwich, Cheshire
- Richard Townsend, 37, from Rochdale
- Karl Lindsay, 55, Taunton, Somerset
- Daniel Rayner, 42, from, Whitstable, Kent
- David Graves, 59, from, Ilkeston, Derbyshire
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