Woman tells court she woke restrained and blindfolded to find stranger in bedroom

A woman who says she was sexually assaulted by men her former husband brought into the family home has told a court she would wake in the night restrained, blindfolded and feeling "hazy", with no memory of how she had got that way.

Joanne Young, 49, described the experiences in recorded police interviews played to the jury at Winchester crown court on Wednesday. She also gave evidence briefly in person that afternoon, glancing occasionally towards the defendants in the dock. At one point Mr Justice Saini asked her to keep her voice up.

The court has heard that her ex-husband, Philip Young, 50, "advertised" her on dating and swinging websites, presenting it as a "kink" for both of them. He has pleaded guilty to multiple charges of abuse. Four men accused of sexually assaulting her after being invited into the couple's home are on trial.

Joanne Young said she and Philip Young had been married for 20 years and had three children. She described them as a straight, monogamous couple. "It was always just the two of us," she said. Early in the marriage he had "joked" about watching her with someone else, but she "laughed it off". She said it was never part of their relationship. He liked to restrain and blindfold her during sex, and she said she did not object.

However, she said she would sometimes wake with a blindfold and restraints on and no recollection of them being put on. On a night in February 2023 she woke, removed them and realised a stranger was in the room. Philip Young told a second person to "get down", and that person ducked out of sight. "I was in shock," she said. "There was this man in my house and I was naked." She hid in a bathroom.

The next day her husband told her he had invited someone to watch them have sex. He claimed it had not happened before, and she believed it was a one-off. She decided to "stick my head in the sand" and carry on. On the day of his arrest, she said, he admitted sharing explicit images of her. When she asked whether February was the only occasion, she said he looked at her and answered: "No."

After the arrest she recalled a "vague" earlier incident in which she woke "terrified", saying "No, no", while her husband asked: "Wouldn't you like it if somebody else was here?" She had put it down to a nightmare at the time.

Questioned by Tom Godfrey, barrister for defendant Mohammed Hassan, about February 2023, she said two people other than herself were in the room, one touching her wrist and the other performing a sex act on her. Godfrey suggested the touch on her wrist might have been bedclothes. She replied: "I disagree. It was a hand around my wrist."

Friends of the Youngs said in statements that the pair ran a business together and that he was a school governor. They described him as opinionated and arrogant but not misogynistic, and said he was often on his phone during nights out. Jurors also saw videos recorded by Philip Young that allegedly show three of the defendants sexually assaulting his wife. The public gallery was cleared first, and some jurors appeared distressed.

Connor Sanderson-Doyle, 32, of Swindon, denies sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching in June 2016. Richard Wilkins, 62, of Toothill, Swindon, denies one count of rape and one of assault by penetration in July 2016. Norman Macksoni, 48, of Sharnbrook, Bedfordshire, denies one count of rape in February 2017. Hassan, 38, of Swindon, denies one count of sexual touching in February 2023. Philip Young will be sentenced after the trial.