The Stockport man who drugged, raped and sexually assaulted his wife “found a large number” of the “many, many men whose fantasy is an unconscious and unresponsive woman” to allegedly participate in her abuse, a court has heard.

Nine men are on trial at Manchester Minshull Street crown court, accused of either participating in the abuse, which took place at the couple’s home, or encouraging it online.

The husband, in his 60s, has pleaded guilty to multiple offences against his wife, committed over more than 20 years. He cannot be named in order to protect the anonymity of his victim.

On the second day of the prosecution case, Louise Oakley KC told the jury the husband had met the first defendant, Robert Stewart, 70, who also lived in Stockport, Greater Manchester, on Craigslist in 2015.

His interaction with Stewart was “to be his blueprint for future offending”, the jury was told. Stewart had asked if the victim would ever participate in a “threesome”, but the husband “made it clear that there was absolutely no chance of that”, the court heard.

The men then discussed the use of date rape drugs and drink spiking to try to render the woman unconscious. Stewart gave the husband antidepressants and Tramadol, a strong painkiller, on agreement the husband would invite Stewart to their home if she was unconscious, the jury was told.

The contact between the pair was, Oakley said, “no doubt the first big step [the husband] took in realising his own fantasy of having another man come to him and ‘fuck’ his unaware wife”.

The court heard the husband had visited news websites and online forums, where he searched for information on date rape drugs, including GHB, and sleeping tablets. “[The husband’s] perversity did not wane,” Oakley told the court. “He wanted to share her but recognised that alcohol alone was not going to be enough.

“So desperate, you may think, was he, he would share imagery of [his wife] with complete strangers and then discuss how they would supply him with drugs in order that she be raped. Sharing her, his desire, in their own home.”

The court heard the husband had also discussed with a second defendant, David Graves, 60, from Ilkeston, Derbyshire, the need to find “something to knock her out completely”.

Graves, described as a “non-contact offender”, had supplied the husband with tablets to drug his wife, and in return the husband agreed to send him imagery of the abuse.

The husband had asked Graves to post the tablets to the house of a relative of his wife’s who had recently died, the court heard. “The house where [the relative] had been living was empty,” Oakley told the court. “Does it get any worse than that?”

The court heard Graves became “incredibly impatient” when there was a delay in sending the images. The husband told him “he tried the tablets but they tasted so bitter and his wife thought there was something wrong with the curry”, Oakley said. “Obviously the tablets he had put in the food.”

A third defendant, Philip Wild, 58, from Stockport, had visited the couple’s home in August 2023, the court heard. The husband told him he had to be quiet, so he didn’t wake the victim, and advised him to step out on to the landing if she stirred, and “he would deal with the situation”.

Wild had touched the woman sexually, and “was fully aware that [she] was not conscious and not able to consent to any sexual activity”, Oakley told the court.

The husband put Wild, a taxi driver, in touch with another man, Graham Brougham, who lived near the couple’s Stockport address, the court heard, and they used WhatsApp to discuss having sex with the woman.

The name of the WhatsApp group was originally a pseudonym for the woman that her husband had used online, but was later renamed “Taxi” in an apparent bid to avoid suspicion.

The jury was told the husband sent pictures of his wife to another “non-contact offender”, Daniel Rayner, 42, from Whitstable, Kent.

Rayner repeatedly asked the husband for images, Oakley said, and “he knows that what he wants, he gets”.

The pair discussed drugging the victim, and Rayner’s ability to obtain GHB. “[Rayner] knew [the wife] was unaware, and he knew that she was being sexually abused by her husband,” Oakley said.

Five other men are on trial accused of participating in the abuse. They are Jordan Wallace, 31, from Manchester; Alan Keelan, 42, from Manchester; Jonathan Kirk, 43, from Stockport; Mohammed Sabir, 28, of no fixed abode; and Richard Townsend, 37, from Heywood, Greater Manchester. All of the men on trial deny the charges against them.

Three men – Sean Peers, 38, from Stockport; Keith Fotheringham, 59, from Dundee; and Graham Brougham, 74, from Northwich, Cheshire – have admitted abusing the woman, while Karl Lindsay, 56, from Somerset, has pleaded guilty to “non-contact” offences.

“The sad reality of this case is that there are many, many men whose fantasy is an unconscious and unresponsive woman,” Oakley told the court. “[The husband] found a large number of them. We suggest they sit in this dock today.”

While all of the men may not know exactly what drugs the husband had administered, Oakley said, “they expected her to be ‘wasted’ and ‘out of it’.

“Any right-minded human being who walked into that room, that bedroom, with two eyes, two ears, and half a brain would have realised she was not conscious.

“They knew. It’s what they wanted,” she added. “Anyone who didn’t, would have run a country mile.”

While the defendants may claim the wife had consented, Oakley said, “any defendant that suggests they had any conversation with her, I suggest is lying”.

The trial is expected to last three months.