Joanne Young’s account of finding another person in bedroom played to jury

A jury at Winchester Crown Court heard Joanne Young’s recorded account on Wednesday of finding another person in her bedroom while she was blindfolded and restrained. Four men are on trial over separate alleged sexual offences against her; all deny the charges.

In a police interview recorded in July 2024, Young said she had gone to bed after a night out in February 2023 and woke wearing a blindfold and restraints. As she loosened them, she felt a hand grip her left wrist that she believed was not her then-husband Philip Young’s. She said she heard him tell someone to “get down”, saw a person duck at the end of the bed and locked herself in the bathroom.

Young, who has waived her right to anonymity, told police that her husband later apologised and said he had invited someone from an online forum to watch them have sex. “It was so intrusive. I was so upset. He knows I would have never said yes to that,” she said.

In a second recorded interview played to the jury, she said blindfolds and wrist restraints had previously been part of their consensual sex life. She said she had never consented to anything happening while she was asleep. Her account of the person in the bedroom did not identify them.

Philip Young pleaded guilty in January to 48 sexual offences against his former wife. According to the Crown Prosecution Service, they include 11 counts of rape and 11 of administering a substance with intent to overpower her to allow sexual activity.

Connor Sanderson-Doyle, Norman Macksoni, Richard Wilkins and Mohammed Hassan deny charges of rape or sexual assault relating to alleged incidents in 2016, 2017 and 2023. Prosecutor Sarah Jones KC told the jury she expected the men to argue that they believed Joanne Young had consented and that their belief was reasonable. Their cases remain for the jury to decide.