Guilty Pleas Narrow Manchester Trial Over Drugged Wife Case

Sean Peers, 38, has pleaded guilty to assault by penetration of an unconscious woman whose husband had drugged her.

The plea was entered at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court, the type of court in England that hears serious criminal cases, and relates to an assault on 15 September 2024. The Guardian Assault by penetration is a sexual offence defined in law as non-consensual penetration, and unconscious in this context means the person could not consent.

Peers had been due to stand trial alongside 11 other men. He will now be sentenced at the end of that trial, so all sentences are decided together in the same proceedings.

The main defendant is the woman's husband. He cannot be named, to protect his wife's anonymity. He is accused of inviting 13 other men to abuse his wife at the family home in Greater Manchester. He has admitted drugging and raping his wife over more than two decades. Reuters

At the same court, the husband pleaded guilty to 45 charges, after previously admitting 15 offences. He has also pleaded guilty to two further counts, one of rape and one of sexual assault, from August last year. With those pleas, the jury will not have to decide on his own liability.

Keith Fotheringham, 59, from Dundee, a former technician at the city's university, has also pleaded guilty to a number of offences. Like Peers and the husband, he will be sentenced when the trial ends.

The trial of the remaining defendants is due to open on 19 October at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court. Judge Maurice Greene told a jury of three men and nine women that the husband had provided a witness statement shared with defence lawyers, which required a delay. The jury plus two female reserve jurors, backups who step in if needed, 14 in total, were told to return to the same court on 19 October.

Eleven men deny offences including rape and attempted rape 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, and Graham Brougham, 74, from Northwich. Also due to stand trial are Richard Townsend, 37, from Heywood, Karl Lindsay, 55, from Taunton, Daniel Rayner, 42, from Whitstable, and David Graves, 59, from Ilkeston. The trial is expected to last about nine weeks and end in mid-December.

Looking at what this means for the weeks ahead, the guilty pleas narrow but do not shorten the case. The prosecution no longer needs to prove the conduct admitted by Peers, Fotheringham and the husband. The jury will focus on the contested claims against the 11 men who deny the charges. The late sharing of the husband's witness statement explains the wait before opening. It also points to the weight his evidence may carry, alongside the complainant's evidence. Waiting until mid-December for sentencing lets the court review the full picture before setting individual penalties.