A man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting an unconscious woman, whose husband had drugged her and invited other men to abuse her. Sean Peers, 38, had been due to stand trial alongside 11 other men, but admitted one count of assault by penetration on 15 September 2024 when he appeared at Manchester Minshull Street crown court. The husband, who cannot be named in order to protect the anonymity of his wife, had already admitted to offences, but pleaded guilty to a further two counts – one of rape and one of sexual assault – which took place in August last year.
Another man, Keith Fotheringham, 59, from Dundee, a former technician at the city’s university, has also pleaded guilty to a number of offences. All three will be sentenced at the conclusion of the trial, which is scheduled to open on 19 October. The case was due to begin in early September, but has faced several delays for legal and practical reasons.
At a hearing on Tuesday, the jury of three men and nine women were told by Judge Maurice Greene that the husband had provided a witness statement detailing “what it is he says happened”, which had been disclosed to defence lawyers and meant the trial would be delayed while they went through it. The jury, including two female reserve jurors bringing their total number to 14, were sent away and told to return to the same court on 19 October. Eleven men are due to stand trial, denying a range of offences including rape and attempted rape, with the abuse alleged to have taken place between 2018 and November 2025.
They 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 Heywood in Greater Manchester, Karl Lindsay, 55, from Taunton, Somerset, Daniel Rayner, 42, from Whitstable, Kent, and David Graves, 59, from Ilkeston in Derbyshire. The trial is expected to last around nine weeks, due to conclude in mid-December.
Extract — continue reading at the source.
