UK man admits encouraging sexual abuse of sleeping women

British man Darren Conway pleaded guilty on Friday to encouraging other men in an online group chat to sexually abuse unconscious partners and exchange images of the abuse.

Conway, 52, admitted multiple charges including voyeurism, possessing an extreme pornographic image, and assisting or encouraging sexual assault and the sharing of intimate images. A judge in a north London court said he would be sentenced on October 30.

He admitted messaging a man last year to ask him to assault his wife while she was asleep and share images of the crime. He also solicited images of sleeping women online at least 10 times between 2023 and 2026.

Conway was charged after an investigation by Britain's National Crime Agency into an online forum linked to multiple international cases of men encouraging or committing drug-facilitated sexual abuse.

London's Metropolitan Police said messages found on Conway's devices showed him encouraging other group chat members to commit drug-facilitated sexual offences, alongside sexual images and videos. Metropolitan Police commander Andy Day said Conway's actions put women at serious risk of harm in their own homes.

Police said much of the offending in Conway's group chat was believed to have taken place in the UK, but some victims could be overseas.

Global awareness of drug-facilitated sexual abuse has grown after the conviction in France of Dominique Pelicot, who drugged and raped his then-wife Gisele for nearly a decade alongside strangers. In separate UK cases, a man in central England pleaded guilty in July to 32 sexual offences against his girlfriend while she was allegedly drugged or asleep, and a Manchester trial involving allegations that a woman was drugged and sexually assaulted is due to begin this month.