The Manchester 'Pelicot case': more than twenty years of rapes, three guilty parties and eleven more accused

LondonA few days ago, the weekly Charlie Hebdo claimed that the English "perhaps" had found their own Pelicot Case, in reference to Gisèle Pelicot, the French woman who in 2024 publicly exposed that she was raped by a hundred men while she was unconscious, after being repeatedly drugged by her husband over the years. The satirical publication thus focused on a very similar drama that took place in Stockport, one of the dormitory towns south of Manchester, which became partially known in November 2025. Following these events, a mega-trial against eleven men accused of raping a woman while she was drugged begins on October 19th. In the Pelicot trial, the public prosecutor brought 51 rapists before the court, including the husband.

The English victim is a resident of the aforementioned town of Stockport, who, in the first place, had allegedly been drugged and raped by her husband for over two decades without her knowing, due to the narcotic substances he administered to her. The perversion of the husband, a man in his sixties who cannot be publicly identified to respect the woman's right to anonymity, intensified starting in 2018. It was then that he began to invite other accomplices to the family home to sexually abuse his wife, also incapacitated by the effect of the drugs.

The husband was arrested in October of last year. Initially, he denied all charges. But in mid-September of this 2026, he pleaded guilty to 60 crimes committed against his wife between 2004 and 2025. Among the criminal acts he has admitted are multiple rapes, sexual assaults, assaults by penetration, attempted rape, and the continuous administration of a pharmacological substance with the intention of leaving her incapacitated, thus facilitating the sexual abuse. The husband has also admitted to having shared intimate photographs and videos of his wife without her consent.

This Wednesday, October 7, the husband appeared again before the Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court. And by video link from prison, he admitted to one more rape and one more sexual assault, committed in August of last year. Since he has pleaded guilty, he will no longer have to be tried for the admitted facts: he now awaits sentencing, which will be handed down when the trial against the other defendants, the men he himself invited to rape his wife, concludes.

Additionally, also yesterday, Wednesday, Sean Peers, 38, was added to the list of confessed aggressors, admitting to an assault by penetration committed in September 2024. Surprisingly, the judge has kept him on bail until the joint sentencing of the eleven defendants. With him, there are now three men who have admitted to having raped and assaulted the woman: the husband, Peers, and Keith Fotheringham, 59. The latter had pleaded guilty to conspiracy to rape the woman, conspiracy to assault her by penetration, conspiracy to administer a substance to inhibit her will, and assault by penetration. In his case, and unlike Peers, he remains imprisoned like the husband and will be sentenced later.

The other aggressors

The parallel with the Pelicot case is evident. It lies, above all, in the role attributed to the husband. The prosecution maintains that he organized and facilitated the abuse by the other men. In this sense, the police assert that between 2018 and October 2025 he allegedly invited them to sexually abuse her while she was incapacitated by drugs. Some of the accused allegedly participated directly in the assaults; others are accused of having facilitated or conspired to commit the abuse. The eleven involved are aged between 28 and 74.

The eleven defendants have decided to deny the accusations and for this reason will be tried. Among them are a paramedic, a former football club executive, a taxi driver, a university technician, and a youth football coach. They are charged with crimes ranging from rape and assault with penetration to conspiracy to rape a woman or to administer narcotic substances to her. One of them, Karl Lindsay, 55, and former chief executive of Taunton Town FC, is also accused of having provided the drugs used to incapacitate the victim and of having also organized the abuse. He, like the other accused, denies everything.

The Crown Prosecution Service expects the trial to last approximately nine weeks, until mid-December. The jury has already been selected, but the process has been delayed due to legal and practical issues. Among these is the fact that the defense recently received a statement from the husband in which he explains his version of events, which has forced the court to give the lawyers time to study it.

Aside from the number of defendants who will sit before the judge, the biggest difference from the Gisèle Pelicot case is that she herself voluntarily renounced her anonymity and turned the trial against her husband and the 50 defendants into a public denunciation of sexual violence against women. In Manchester, on the other hand, the victim's identity is protected by law. Dominique Pelicot ended up sentenced to twenty years in prison; the rest of the accused were also found guilty, although with lesser sentences.