A man accused of raping a woman who had been drugged by her husband so he could watch her being ‘degraded’ has told a court he could hear her snoring but thought it was ‘part of a role-playing scenario’.

Richard Wilkins, 62, is one of four men on trial at Winchester Crown Court charged with sexually abusing Joanne Young, who has waived her right to anonymity, as she lay incapacitated in bed.

Joanne’s husband Philip Young, 50, has admitted more than 50 charges relating to drugging and abusing her, with jurors previously hearing how he ‘advertised’ her on swinger sites and would ‘pluck men from the internet’ to come around and rape her while he ‘relished her degradation’.

Taxi driver Wilkins told the court today that he responded to one of Young’s adverts on Craigslist.

When he got to the Young family home in Swindon, he was taken to the bedroom where he saw Joanne shackled and wearing a blindfold, he said.

He told jurors he heard a ‘snoring noise’ and thought it was part of the encounter as advertised by Young.

Wilkins said: ‘I considered this was still part of the role-playing scenario that I was acting out.’

Explaining that he felt she must have been awake or woken up, he said: ‘If you are asleep and someone climbs on your bed, it’s going to wake you up and make you move or something.’

He said that as he started having sex with Joanne, she stopped snoring and she began making sounds of ‘moaning or groaning of enjoyment’ as well as wrapped her legs around him.

Wilkins said that he had not suspected that she had been drugged or was drunk because there was no ‘drug paraphernalia’ in the room and Young and Joanne did not smell of alcohol.

He added that he did not know that she was not consenting and said: ‘I didn’t and if I did or had any inkling of it I would have contacted police myself. I believed she was consenting.’

Wilkins said that at the time he had been searching for friendship following a ‘rough divorce’ and added: ‘I am trying to get back some confidence and get on with my life.’

Wilkins added he had believed Young’s account that his wife would be a willing participant in the incident.

He said: ‘Philip Young is a very convincing person when you speak to them, he is a very believable person, we now know what he is like.’

He said he had agreed to be videoed and did not wear a mask to hide his identity, and added: ‘I didn’t have anything to hide.’

Wilkins also denied he had arranged with Young to come to the house in order to rape Joanne.

The other three defendants in the trial, who have been charged jointly with Young, are Norman Macksoni, 48, of Bedfordshire, who has denied one count of rape; and Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, of Swindon, has denied sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching.

Mohammed Hassan, 38, of Swindon, has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual touching of Mrs Young.

Young, 50, has pleaded guilty to a total of 56 charges, and a sixth defendant, Dean Hamilton, 47, of Somerset, has admitted one charge of assault by penetration, two of sexual assault and one of rape.

They will be sentenced at the conclusion of the trial.

The trial continues.

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