Former non-league football chief admits role in sending sedatives to a husband who drugged and raped his wife

Karl Lindsay, 56, a married father of five who rose from kit manager to chief executive of Taunton Town Football Club, pleaded guilty at Manchester Minshull Street Crown Court on Friday to administering substances to stupefy a woman for sexual acts and two further serious sexual offences spanning 2015 to 2025. His victim was present in the public gallery to hear him enter his pleas. Judge Maurice Greene remanded Lindsay in custody, with sentencing deferred until after the trial of nine remaining co-defendants, due to begin Monday.

The woman's husband, a man in his 60s from Stockport who cannot be named, has already admitted 62 offences against his wife including multiple rapes spanning more than 20 years.

Three other men — Graham Brougham, 74, Keith Fotheringham, 59, and Sean Peers, 38 — have also pleaded guilty to offences against the same woman at earlier hearings.

Among those facing trial Monday is an ambulance paramedic once pictured with Prince Harry on a royal visit, a former nightclub DJ, a youth football coach and a taxi driver.