Laura Bishop woke up in her Bristol home on an August night in 2021 to find a stranger raping her while her husband watched from the doorway.
She waived her anonymity five years after her escape. She wanted to expose the abuse orchestrated by her former partner, Daniel Bishop.
Daniel Bishop suggested a drink together at their kitchen breakfast bar. He poured her a gin and tonic, an action she never thought she needed to watch.
He poured me a gin and tonic. I couldn’t see what he was doing. I never thought I’d need to watch what he did with my drink. I don’t remember finishing it.
Laura Bishop, via Daily Star
She lost consciousness from the substance. When she woke up, she was completely undressed and being assaulted by a stranger.
I woke up on the bed. Completely undressed. Naked. And being raped by a stranger.
Laura Bishop, via Daily Star
She looked to the right to see her husband stood there in the doorway. Fearing for her life, she moved quickly up the bed, and the intruder fled.
Daniel Bishop obtained the GHB drug from a Dutch website to drug his wife. In court, he admitted to rape and administering a substance with intent to commit a sexual offence.
Bristol Crown Court recorded guilty pleas for three rapes, three attempted rapes, a sexual assault, and administering a noxious substance. He was sentenced to 14 years and eight months in prison.
Laura Bishop began telephone conversations with her imprisoned ex-husband, recording calls without his knowledge. She sought answers about what else had happened to her while she was unconscious.
If you’re a kind and decent person, your mind isn’t going to sit there imagining all of these horrors.
Laura Bishop, via ITVX
The recordings uncovered a much larger web of abuse. Daniel Bishop admitted that the stranger in her bedroom was part of a larger group invited into their family home.
It was seven men in total. The last one came twice. So it was eight separate occasions, with seven different men.
Daniel Bishop, via ITVX
He also admitted livestreaming the sexual abuse online, meaning watchers elsewhere viewed the assaults as they happened.
Avon and Somerset Police seized the bedsheets on the night of the arrest in August 2021, but did not test them for DNA until April 2023, twenty months later. Laura Bishop said that the bed itself was not seized for years and that surrounding road CCTV was not fully collected.
That being said, there were mistakes that were made. The police didn’t collect all of the CCTV from the roads around my house.
Laura Bishop, via Daily Star
Avon and Somerset Police told ITV News that they were sorry she felt let down by aspects of the investigation. The force said that identification of the offenders has been a priority from the outset and that an internal review found no CCTV opportunities were missed.
Laura Bishop connected with Zoe Watts, who launched a campaign to raise awareness of drug-facilitated sexual assault. Zoe Watts launched the #EndEyeCheck campaign to expose online networks sharing such assaults, support survivors, and advocate for tougher laws.
Laura Bishop hopes that coming forward publicly will put names to the faces of the men who abused her and protect other women from similar horrors.
