U.K. man pleads guilty to drugging and raping wife over more than 20 years

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A British man pleaded guilty to drugging and raping his wife over two decades at a court in northwest England on Monday, the latest such case of men sedating and abusing their partners.

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The man in his 60s, who cannot be named to protect the identity of his wife, had previously pleaded guilty to other sexual offences against her.

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He was due to stand trial alongside 12 co-defendants accused of conspiring to abuse the same woman, his wife, while she was unconscious.

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The other men deny the charges, while a 13th man in the case earlier pleaded guilty to conspiring to drug and rape the victim.

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On Monday, the husband admitted to 60 offences dating back to 2004, including administering a substance with intent to stupefy or overpower his wife.

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The co-defendants, who are aged between 28 and 73 and include a paramedic and former football coach, are set to stand trial at the criminal court in Manchester in the coming weeks.

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It is the latest in a string of U.K. criminal cases related to drug-facilitated sexual abuse (DFSA).

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Global awareness of the crime has grown following the high-profile conviction in France of Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and raped his then-wife Gisele for nearly a decade alongside strangers.

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In a separate case last week, a London man pleaded guilty to encouraging other men in an online group chat to sexually abuse their unconscious partners and exchange images of the abuse.

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And later this week, a man is due to be sentenced in central England after pleading guilty in July to 32 sexual offences against his girlfriend while she was allegedly drugged or asleep.

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