{"id":386717,"date":"2026-01-23T20:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386717\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T20:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T20:35:12","slug":"former-uk-local-politician-pleads-guilty-to-drugging-raping-ex-wife-sexual-assault-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/386717\/","title":{"rendered":"Former UK local politician pleads guilty to drugging, raping ex-wife | Sexual Assault News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article__subhead\">Philip Young admits to 48 offences committed between 2010 and 2023 \u200dagainst ex-wife Joanne Young.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"avatar\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/author\/al_jazeera_staff_150119130629458\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769200512_844_2017-06-08T131939Z_1189275883_RC11B0FE7F20_RTRMADP_3_GULF-QATAR-JAZEERA-1714943623.jpg\"   aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Published On 23 Jan 202623 Jan 2026<\/p>\n<p>Click here to share on social media<\/p>\n<p>share2<\/p>\n<p class=\"rich-share__social-text\">Share<\/p>\n<p>A former British town councillor has admitted to drugging and raping his ex-wife over the course of more than a decade, alongside five other men also charged with sexual offences against her.<\/p>\n<p>Philip Young, 49, who served on Swindon borough council in the south of England, pleaded guilty on Friday to \u200b48 offences committed between 2010 and 2023 \u200dagainst ex-wife Joanne Young, who prosecutors previously said had waived her legal right to anonymity.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing at Winchester Crown Court, the former Conservative Party local politician pleaded guilty to 11 \u200dcounts of \u2060rape, 11 counts of administering a substance with intent to stupefy to allow sexual activity, seven counts of assault by penetration and four counts of sexual assault.<\/p>\n<p>He also pleaded guilty to \u200c14 counts of voyeurism, including one count which stated Young recorded his ex-wife \u201con no fewer than 200 occasions\u201d, and a charge of publishing obscene articles by publishing \u200cphotos and images of her \u201con \u2060no fewer than 500 occasions\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Five other men also appeared in the court, charged with sexual offences against Joanne Young, the Press Association news agency reported.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Norman Macksoni, 47, and Richard Wilkins, 61, both pleaded not guilty to one count of rape.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Wilkins also pleaded not guilty to one charge of assault by penetration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Connor Sanderson Doyle, 31, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault by penetration and sexual touching.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Dean Hamilton, 47, is yet to enter a plea to one count of rape, as well as two counts of sexual assault and one count of assault by penetration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Mohammed Hassan, 37, pleaded not guilty to sexual touching.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">The five men were all granted bail and are due to stand trial on October 5, said PA.<\/p>\n<p>Joanne Young, 48, was present in court with her sister and a member of witness support.<\/p>\n<p>Last year, Wiltshire Police detective superintendent Geoff Smith described the case as a \u201ccomplex and extensive investigation\u201d, noting that the victim had waived her \u201cautomatic legal right to anonymity\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philip Young admits to 48 offences committed between 2010 and 2023 \u200dagainst ex-wife Joanne Young. Published On 23&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":386718,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[591,59,57,58,50,6277,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-386717","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-kingdom","8":"tag-europe","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-greatbritain","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-sexual-assault","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386717","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=386717"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/386717\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386718"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=386717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=386717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=386717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}