Laura Bishop has described how her husband drugged her so strangers could rape her while he shared recordings of the abuse online.
Ms Bishop waived her right to anonymity this week and recalled the moment she woke to find herself naked, with an unknown man assaulting her.
The case has drawn comparisons with France’s “Monster of Avignon” scandal. Ms Bishop said she remained unaware for five years that men had been raping her while she was unconscious.
Photographs of the couple’s family life gave a deceptive impression of their relationship. Behind closed doors, she said, her husband, Daniel Bishop, was controlling and violent.
Ms Bishop said Daniel controlled her prescription medication, and a home video shows him encouraging her to take it.
She believes the drugs were used to sedate her before she was raped by her husband and other men.
On some occasions, she said, Bishop mixed crushed prescription medication into her drinks to make her unconscious. He later used a car-wheel cleaning product containing the toxic substance GHB.
Ms Bishop remembered sitting with her husband at the kitchen breakfast bar on the evening before she unexpectedly regained consciousness. He suggested they have a drink together.
Laura Bishop waived her right to anonymity this week and described waking to find herself naked while a stranger raped her
Daniel Bishop, from Bristol, was 43 when he was sentenced in 2022 to 14 years and eight months in prison, followed by an extended eight-year licence period
“He poured me a gin and tonic. I couldn’t see what he was doing. I never thought I would need to watch what he put in my drink.
“I don’t remember finishing it,” she told ITV News.
Ms Bishop regained consciousness several hours later.
“I woke up on the bed. Completely undressed. Naked. And being raped by a stranger.
“I immediately looked to the right, and Dan was standing there; my husband was standing in the doorway.
“The first thing I thought was, ‘I’m going to be strangled and murdered.’ But I started moving quickly back up the bed, and the man got up and ran away.”
Ms Bishop escaped, and Daniel Bishop was later jailed for 14 years and eight months, with an extended licence period of eight years, in 2022.
He pleaded guilty to three counts of rape, three attempted rapes, one sexual assault and administering a noxious substance.
Home videos recorded part of the abuse. In this footage, Bishop can be seen urging his wife to take her “medication”
Family photographs portrayed an apparently happy life, but Ms Bishop said her husband was violent and controlling
“If you’re a kind and decent person, your mind isn’t going to sit imagining all of these horrors,” Ms Bishop said.
“You couldn’t fabricate it; you couldn’t make this story up in your head if you tried. Despite how abusive he was, I never once imagined he was drugging me.”
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While her former husband was in prison, Ms Bishop collected evidence and recorded telephone conversations with him.
She discovered that seven men had raped her in total. One of them visited twice, meaning the abuse took place on eight separate occasions.
The men have not been arrested and remain free.
ITV News reported that the investigation was also affected by significant delays.
Police seized Ms Bishop’s bedsheets in August 2021, after she woke to find a stranger raping her. However, the sheets were not tested for DNA until 20 months later.
“Cases like this were not being heard of, so people within the police force were not necessarily trained in what to do,” Ms Bishop said.
Police seized Ms Bishop’s bedsheets in August 2021, but DNA testing was not carried out until 20 months later
Laura Bishop fears other women could be at risk and says more must be done to identify the men involved in her abuse
“That being said, mistakes were made. Police did not collect all the CCTV footage from the roads around my house.
“The bed frame wasn’t fingerprinted. I thought that was shocking, and I was told, ‘It’s too late now because other people would have touched the bed frame since.’”
“I never accepted that, so I put the bed frame in the loft and kept it there for years. Eventually, when a new investigation team took over, they collected it.
“I want justice based on the evidence that was available on the night I woke up,” she said.
Ms Bishop said she fears other women may be at risk and believes more must be done to identify the men who took part in the abuse.
Avon and Somerset Police said: “We are sorry Laura feels let down by aspects of the overall investigation. One man has received a significant prison sentence for the crimes he committed against her, but a thorough investigation continues under the leadership of specially trained detectives.
“We will always respect a victim’s decision about whether to waive their automatic right to anonymity.
“In recent years, policing has undergone a fundamental transformation in the way rape investigations are conducted through the national rollout of Operation Soteria.
“The perpetrators of rape and serious sexual offences are placed at the centre of our investigations. This approach ensures victims are believed and receive better support through improved engagement.
“We are clear: the victim is not on trial or under investigation.”
The force said it could not comment further while the investigation remained ongoing.
An internal police review found that no CCTV opportunities had been missed, while a number of digital inquiries were completed to ensure all available evidence was gathered, a source said.
Forensic investigations and evidence submissions were also conducted from the beginning of the inquiry.
- Laura’s Story: The Stranger in My Bed airs Thursday at 10.45pm on ITV and ITVX.
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