Sick playbook of the drug-rape husbands secretly abusing wives… ‘survivor of 1,000 sex attacks’ reveals hidden signs

HAVING survived alleged attacks of unimaginable horror and cruelty, Amanda Stanhope’s words are unwavering: “This is so much more than rape, it’s the total annihilation of a human being.” The Greater Manchester-based mum-of-two, 53, who claims she endured more than 1,000 sex attacks from her now deceased ex-partner while rendered unconscious from sleeping pills. Amanda Stanhope, known as the ‘British Gisele Pelicot’, with David Rogerson Credit: Supplied Amanda is was ‘horrified to the core’ after discovering ‘rape academies’ existed online Credit: PP. Amanda is reliving her alleged harrowing ordeal at the hands of David Rogerson – who denied all charges before his death aged 56 – which spanned years until 2023, as cases of drug-based rape against wives and girlfriends in the UK continue soar. Just days ago, a Stockport husband, who cannot be named to protect his partner’s identity, admitted to having incapacitating her with substances, raping and sexually assaulting her during a two-decade long campaign of abuse. The man, in his 60s, pleaded guilty to 60 offences, including 16 counts of rape, alongside another unnamed man, who admitted sexual offences against the woman. The spine-chilling case is among two others this year that saw a husband and a boyfriend plead guilty to a collective total of 80 offences related to sexual attacks – including 10 offences committed “with a person unknown”. Amanda predicts an “avalanche of cases” to flow through the courts in the coming years due to the courage of survivors coming forward – some of whom have bravely waived their automatic right to anonymity. Most notably there was France’s Gisele Pelicot, who exposed husband Dominique and the 50 other men that raped and abused her over a nine-year period. Amanda says she has spoken to more than 400 victims of this type of abuse since The Sun originally published her story last year – and “half, if not slightly more” are from the UK. Encouraging these heinous acts are scores of despicable online forums and private chat groups, known as “rape academies”, where men discuss, encourage, applaud and give tips. Many share videos and photos of their atrocious attacks. “This is just the beginning,” says Amanda, of campaign group #EndEyeCheck. “Authorities in the UK, Europe and worldwide are investigating cases that hopefully will lead to victims receiving the justice they deserve. “This is not just rape, this is the total annihilation of a human being. The victims’ whole lives are destroyed, they can’t work, they can’t function. “Women, who suffer this abuse, are left on their own in isolation, unsupported and in financial crisis. They need recognition and help whether they get justice or not. “It’s on a much bigger scale than any of us truly know. The rape academies truly shocked me to my core because of the amount of men in these group. “I was horrified by how they were cheering each other on with a kind of high-five approach, like ‘This is great, well done, try this next time.’ “It was sick to see and was like these men, felt a sense of belonging in their shared depravity which had become normalised. That shocked me the most. “It was not men operating on their own as rapists. They were joining up, getting pleasure from sharing how they raped their partners and encouraged each other.” The so-called ‘rape academies’ have members all over the world. In one, hauntingly called ‘Zzz’, a user was selling “sleeping liquids” shipped to anywhere in the world for £130. “Your wife won’t feel anything and won’t remember anything,” they wrote according to CNN. In another, a man charged £15 to watch him abuse his wife on livestream. He said viewers ‘directed him’ and added: “They told me what to do and I did it.” And sick Austrian Robert Aichinger, 51, used to boast in a different forum about allegedly selling his unconscious wife for £400 per rape. Previously, photos and videos of attacks were uploaded to pornographic websites, described as ‘sleep’ content with tags like #passedout and #eyecheck – referring to the abuser opening their victim’s eye to ensure they are unconscious. There was also a group called ‘German Driving School’, where members referred to sedatives as “fuel” and women as “cars” to mask their crimes. Behavioural psychologist Jo Hemmings tells us: “Psychologically, these groups are particularly disturbing because they can create their own closed moral universe.” She notes their “abhorrent acts” become “normalised, legitimised and potentially escalated” to even more extreme behaviour in these groups. Jo adds: “There is also a diffusion of responsibility, they may believe ‘Everybody here thinks like me, everybody is doing it, therefore perhaps it isn’t really so terrible’ “Of course it is terrible, but groups are extremely powerful in changing people’s perception of what is acceptable.” Often this type of abuse goes undiscovered for years due to victims having no or only a partial memory of what happened to them due to the effects of the drugs. Those who do have partial memories may believe it was a terrifying dream or be unable to believe a loved one could do such a thing to them. Gisele Pelicot waived her anonymity to shift shame onto her abusers – to worldwide applaud Credit: AFP Her husband Dominique Pélicot and 51 other male abused her while she was unconscious Credit: Police Handout Mum-of-four Zoe Watts, 43, of Devon, only discovered her husband’s horrific attacks when he confessed: “I’ve been putting sleeping tablets in your tea, then having sex with you while you were unconscious.” In 2022, he was jailed for 11 years for crimes that spanned the five years until 2016. For Amanda, she regularly noticed bruising that covered her arms and legs, unusual symptoms and “small weird things”. “I would wake up on towels and would think, ‘Why is that there?’ Sometimes I noticed my shorts or underwear were back to front,” she tells us. “I had this whole fog of confusion and constantly woke up with bruises but I believed it was because my memory was really bad or my brain was not functioning properly.” Amanda feared she was developing early-onset Alzheimer’s disease or Dementia. Other victims also believed that is happening to them. She says: “We are sent for tests, to neurologists and when it comes back negative, it’s put down as mental health when we’re actually showing signs of trauma and the effects of the drugs.” Further limiting the chance of doctors discovering the real cause, victims’ partner often accompany them to doctors appointment, reducing how honest they can be. Amanda is calling for medical professionals to better educated about drug-based sexual abuse so that they consider it as a possibility for unusual symptoms like hers and look into additional screening. The mum-of-two, who has been described as “Britain’s Gisele Pelicot”, met Rogerson at a rock and roll dance event at Manchester social club in 2019. She claims to have suffered 1,000 attacks from him during their on-off relationship, which lasted until 2023, that would happen after she took prescribed sleeping pills. Before his death Rogerson denied all charges. Chillingly, Amanda alleges Rogerson raped her after she tried to overdose on tablets, shortly after he called 999 and clearly not knowing if she would live or die. She says: “I woke up face down and only came around because he slapped my bottom so hard. I couldn’t move and I couldn’t speak because of the drugs. “I was frozen still but inside I was screaming while he had sex with me. I wasn’t sure if I was dead or alive. “This was the attack that traumatised me the most because I came round during it. I suffered a nervous breakdown and could barely speak for months after. “His excuse was that he was drunk but what I saw that night was evil. I knew I had to get away but I was broken. I knew I had to get better first.” Zoe Watts’s husband had been secretly drugging her tea with sleeping pills and then raping her Credit: Neil Hope Zhenhao Zou claimed in a London court that his victims consented to his ‘rape fantasies’ Credit: PA Amanda claims the attacks and coercive control continued until 2023 when she found the courage to speak to police. But it took cops in excess of two years to bring the case to court. In April 2025, Rogerson was charged with four counts of rape, one of assault by penetration and “multiple” rapes between 2021 and 2023. While on bail, ahead of appearing in court to make a plea, Rogerson – who denied all charges – was found dead and ruled to have died by misadventure at an inquest. Amanda says abusers often plead not guilty as a tactic to exert further control over their victims and cause additional trauma by getting them to relive their experiences in court. “It’s a known predator tactic and part of their playbook,” she adds. “It’s retraumatising, it’s longwinded and I don’t know how people survive the investigation and the trial process.” In the case of London-based Zhenhao Zou, who was found guilty of raping 10 women after intoxicating them with heavily alcoholic cocktails and incapacitating drugs, he accused the women of consenting and engaging in his ‘rape fantasies’. Psychologist Jo says abusers shifting blame and portraying themselves as the victim of hoax or a scorned former partner can be a tactic. When the real victims are accused of consenting, having their sexuality publicly scrutinised and having to defend their character in court it can be “profoundly retraumatising” for them. She adds: “There’s also the trauma from the devastating discovery that the person they slept, ate dinner and lived an ordinary life with was secretly making them unsafe. “It can destabilise someone’s entire understanding of reality – ‘What else wasn’t real?’, ‘When was I safe?’, ‘Who knew?’, ‘Can I ever trust another person again?’” Jo says there is “not one specific profile” to identify these types of abusers but their attacks are “fundamentally about the removal of a person’s autonomy”. She adds: “There can be an extraordinary combination of sexual entitlement, objectification, lack of empathy and a desire for control.” “What is particularly chilling is the degree of planning involved when other people are involved – these are rarely impulsive sexual offences. “Drugging somebody, arranging for other men to attend, concealing what is happening and potentially recording it requires organisation and deception.” Amanda is part of the survivor-led campaign #EndEyeCheck, who want a specific drug-based sexual attacks offence brought in to make it easier for police to charge abusers – currently there are just separate crimes. “What people are finally realising is that it’s ‘every day men’,” she says. “On the outside they don’t look like monsters, they are our colleagues, family members and friends. “People think ‘He’s such a nice guy, this can’t be true’ but there is this hidden side to them, that’s what makes these men so dangerous. “Survivors desperately need more support. They are isolated, unsupported and in financial crisis because their lives are destroyed to the point where they can’t work and can’t function. “We need a specific law to hold offenders to account. How many women have to die or have their lives ruined for change to happen?”