Nine men charged in Manchester - the trigger is NDR research

Trial in Manchester Nine men charged in England according to NDR research As of: November 10, 2026 • 8:39 a.m

A major trial is underway in Manchester against nine men. They are said to have committed sexual offenses against an unconscious woman. The investigation was triggered by as yet unpublished NDR research.

A major trial is currently underway against nine men at the Crown Court in the British city of Manchester. They are said to have committed sexual offenses against an unconscious woman. The husband of the woman in question had admitted that he had secretly drugged and raped his wife since 2004 and had recorded his actions on photos and videos. According to the prosecution, he also invited other men to his home. The investigation in the case was triggered by undercover research by STRG_F and Panorama that has not yet been published.

The men are between 28 and 70 years old and include a paramedic, a taxi driver and a coach of a children's soccer team. Most of them live not far from where the alleged victim lives. Six of the defendants are in custody, the remaining three walk to Manchester Crown Court every morning, two of them masking themselves for the journey to the courthouse.

The husband pleaded guilty to 62 charges. Over four days, prosecutor Louise Oakley read out the charges against the nine men to the jury, quoting alleged messages from the confessed husband and alleged accomplices, and went into hours of detail. About how the husband is said to have made secret recordings of his unconscious wife available to other men online and exchanged them with them.

And finally the prosecutor talks about how he is said to have invited other men to his home, including men sitting in the dock at the Crown Court. The husband had been trying to invite men to his home since 2015. According to the indictment, this is said to have happened from 2023 until his arrest in 2025.

Prosecutor Oakley says his phone contains "over a million photos and videos documenting not only his assaults on [his wife] but also those committed against her by others, including those sitting in the dock today."

The journalists can view the messages between the husband and other men printed out in two heavy A3 folders in court.

The videos and photos of alleged sexual crimes are not printed there, but can be understood through descriptions. Recordings are played on monitors in the courtroom for the twelve jurors, the defendants, the judge and the defense attorneys. The journalists cannot see the videos, but they can hear the woman's snoring from the recordings.

“Is what you saw on the screen an active or willing participant?” prosecutor Oakley asks the jury after showing one of the recordings. "The prosecution says no."

The case is being heard at Manchester Crown Court.

At the end of the reading, Oakley addressed the defendants: "The prosecution says they were caught, and pardon my expression, with their pants down, in the truest sense of the word."

She continues, referring to the accused men: "That everything they said or did was fantasy or role-playing, is their last attempt to get away with what they were doing. It wasn't a game, it wasn't fantasy role-playing, it wasn't unconventional, consensual sexual practices. These were, as I said at the beginning, men exercising their barbaric fantasies on a completely unsuspecting victim."

According to the prosecution, the woman concerned only found out about the alleged acts from the police. The nine defendants deny the allegations.

The case arose from undercover research by NDR for STRG_F and Panorama that had not yet been published.

"How is it that these nine men are sitting in the dock today?" Oakley asks in her indictment reading and explains to the jury: "In October 2025, undercover journalists infiltrated a chat group on a messaging app called Telegram. People in this chat seemed to have a particular interest in sex with sleeping or unconscious people."

Different legal frameworks apply to court reporting in the United Kingdom than in Germany. The court may impose reporting restrictions. This is what happened in the Manchester case. Against this background, the editorial team has decided not to broadcast the underlying undercover research at this time. It will be published at a later date.

In the UK, defendants in criminal proceedings are usually shown openly and their full names are published. In order to protect the anonymity of the woman concerned, the husband is the only one of the accused who is neither named nor shown in the reporting.

He is a man in his 60s. He was married to his wife for over 40 years. They lived together in Stockport, near Manchester.

At the end of the trial, the jury will decide whether the defendant is guilty. Due to his admission of guilt, the husband is no longer part of the current proceedings as a defendant; he should testify as a witness. "He says he wants to tell the truth," said prosecutor Oakley.

She continues: "He's not doing this to get a lighter sentence. He fully expects to die in prison for what he did." He therefore wanted his wife and family to know what happened.

In addition to the husband, four other men had already pleaded guilty to various charges. Like the husband, they will only be sentenced after the trial against the nine men has been completed. The trial is scheduled to take several months.

This topic in the program: tagesschau.de | Trial opens in Manchester | November 9, 2026 | 11:24 am