Warning: This article contains distressing content

A woman who was drugged and raped by her husband for 20 years was first told she may have been the victim of sexual offences shortly after his arrest, a court has heard.

Prosecutors said a knock on the door of the couple's home in Stockport, Greater Manchester, in October 2025 was the moment "the life she knew ended".

The husband, who has pleaded guilty to rape, was arrested after an international investigation was prompted by undercover journalists in Germany infiltrating a Telegram group used by people interested in sex with someone who was asleep or unconscious.

The investigation identified the husband, who was in his 60s, as a user who had shared images showing the sexual abuse of his wife.

Nine men are on trial at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court accused of various offences involving the woman's abuse.

Her husband, who cannot be identified in order to protect her anonymity, pleaded guilty in September to multiple offences dating back to 2004, including rape and administering a substance with intent. He is expected to give evidence against the defendants.

The court heard Greater Manchester Police officers attended the couple's home as part of the investigation and the husband was arrested within minutes.

Det Cons Lauren Snook explained to the court she told the wife "about why we were there and disclosed an agreed amount of information - informing her we believed she had been the victim of sexual offences without her knowledge or consent".

A black Samsung mobile phone seized from the couple's home contained about one million photographs and videos which prosecutors said documented years of abuse by the husband and other men.

The Crown described the phone as a "confession booth" containing the husband's "darkest secrets".

Jurors have heard the husband initially exploited his wife while she was asleep or unconscious through alcohol, recording images and videos which he shared online.

His internet search history between 2014 and 2025 also showed extensive searches for medication and drugs, the court heard.

In an email sent to a contact in July 2015, he referred to drugging his wife while they were on holiday.

He wrote: "Hi hope these pics of my UK wife are OK for you to do your magic. If not let me know what you would like.

"We go on holiday this week so lots of chances to catch her."

The prosecution said from 2023 onwards the husband began inviting other men to the couple's home, where he and others allegedly sexually abused his wife while she lay "out of it" in bed.

The seven men accused of directly visiting the property are taxi driver Philip Wild, 59, of Stockport; recruitment agency worker Mohammed Sabir, 28, of Stockport; building supplies employee Jordan Wallace, 31, of Wythenshawe; industrial cleaning firm worker Alan Keelan, 42, of Wythenshawe; retiree Robert Stewart, 70, of Stockport; sheet metal worker Richard Townsend, 38, of Heywood; and senior paramedic Jonathan Kirk, 43, of Stockport.

Two other defendants, kitchen sales representative David Graves, 60, of Ilkeston, Derbyshire, and self-employed mechanic Daniel Rayner, 42, of Whitstable, Kent, are accused of non-contact offences.

All the defendants deny the allegations, which are said to have been committed between 2015 and 2025.