A former Conservative councillor who had already admitted nearly 50 offences of drugging, raping and sexually assaulting his wife has pleaded guilty to additional charges of making indecent images of children, after initially denying those offences.
Philip Young, 49, appeared via video link from HMP Winchester on Friday to change his pleas on all remaining charges to guilty. He now stands convicted of one of the most extensive catalogues of sexual offending to come before the courts in recent years.
Young had pleaded guilty in January at Winchester Crown Court to 11 counts of rape and 11 counts of administering a substance with intent to stupefy his former wife Joanne Young, 48, who has waived her right to anonymity. At that hearing he denied three charges of making indecent images of children, one count of possessing a prohibited image of a child and four charges of possessing extreme pornographic images. On Friday he withdrew all those denials and pleaded guilty across the board.
The full picture of his offending, which spanned 14 years between 2010 and 2024, is deeply disturbing in its scale and variety. Alongside the rape and drugging convictions, Young had previously admitted 14 counts of voyeurism — including a single count covering at least 200 separate acts — seven counts of assault by penetration, four counts of sexual assault and one count of publishing obscene articles on at least 500 occasions.
Young is not the only person to face charges in connection with offences against Joanne Young. Dean Hamilton, 47, of Compton Dundon in Somerset, pleaded guilty in February to raping her, along with two counts of sexual assault and assault by penetration. Four further men have pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual offences against her and are due to stand trial in October: Connor Sanderson Doyle, 31, of Swindon; Norman Macksoni, 47, of Bedfordshire; Richard Wilkins, 61, of Swindon; and Mohammed Hassan, 37, of Swindon.
Young, who was born in Enfield in June 1976 and graduated from the University of Westminster in 1998, served as a Conservative councillor on Swindon Borough Council from 2007 to 2010. He resigned from his cabinet role as member for culture, regeneration and economic development in May 2010, citing a desire to spend more time with his family and pursue his own business, the Swindon Advertiser reported at the time.
A sentencing date has not yet been confirmed.
