Gisèle Pelicot will change the world, the UK's minister for stopping violence against women and girls has said.

Jess Phillips told The Mirror that the horrendous rape case has "made the world stand still with horror". On Thursday 49 men - including Mrs Pelicot's husband - were found guilty of aggravated rape, while a further two were convicted of sexual assault.

Ms Pelicot said during the weeks-long trial in southern France, her mind was on "the unrecognised victims, whose stories often remain in the shadows”. Following the case, Ms Phillips said: "The Gisèle Pelicot court case has made the world stand still with horror and respect for her.

"I think that Gisèle Pelicot deserves every award that could possibly ever be given to her, not because of just her bravery, but because I think her story is going to change the world."

Protesters show their support for Gisèle Pelicot (
Image:
AFP via Getty Images)

The Labour minister continued: "Absolutely we will take learnings from the Gisèle Pelicot case. I imagine that's the same around the world."

Ms Pelicot's former husband of 50 years, Dominique Pélicot, 71, was jailed for 20 years. The rapist lead a sick campaign of abuse against his wife, running an online chatroom titled 'without her knowledge', advertising for men to perform vile sexual acts while she was drugged.

Several of these men returned to abuse her unresponsive body again and again. And yet, not one of them attempted to check if she had consented.

The mother-of-three was unknowingly sedated and sexually abused dozens of times at their family home in Mazan, a commune in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France.

Jess Phillips told The Mirror that the horrendous rape case has 'made the world stand still with horror' (
Image:
Rowan Griffiths / Daily Mirror)

Dominique Pelicot first came to the attention of police in September 2020, when a supermarket security guard caught him surreptitiously filming up women's skirts. Police subsequently found his library of homemade images documenting years of abuse inflicted on his wife - more than 20,000 photos and videos in all, stored on computer drives and catalogued in folders marked "abuse," "her rapists," "night alone" and other titles.

This sickening evidence led police to the other defendants. In the videos, investigators counted 72 different abusers, but weren't able to identify them all.

The 51 men convicted

  1. Dominique Pelicot, 72: Sentenced to 20 years for aggravated rape. He was also guilty of the attempted aggravated rape of another woman, and taking indecent images of three women

  2. Jean-Pierre Marechal, 63: Sentenced to 12 years for attempted rape and aggravated rape of his wife, as well as drugging her and inviting Dominique Pelicot to rape her too.

  3. Charly Arbo, 30: Sentenced to 13 years for aggravated rape

  4. Cyrille Delville: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape. Sentenced to eight years

  5. Christian Lescole: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

  6. Lionel Rodriguez, 44: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  7. Nicolas Francois, 43: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery

  8. Jacques Cubeau, 73: Sentenced to five years for aggravated rape

  9. Patrice Nicolle, 55: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  10. Thierry Parisis, 54: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  11. Simoné Mekenese, 43: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

  12. Nizar Hamida, 40: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

  13. Boris Moulin, 37: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  14. Jerome Vilela, 46: Sentenced to 13 years for aggravated rape

  15. Didier Sambuchi, 68: Sentenced to five years for aggravated rape

  16. Quentin Hennebert, 34: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

  17. Philippe Leleu, 62: Sentenced to five years - of which two are suspended - for aggravated rape

  18. Jean-Luc LA, 46: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

  19. Fabien Sotton: Sentenced to 11 years for aggravated rape

  20. Karim Sebaoui, 40: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape and having child abuse imagery

  21. Joan Kawai: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

  22. Jean-Marc LeLoup, 74: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape

  23. Andy Rodriguez, 37: Sentenced to six years for attempted rape and aggravating factors

  24. Vincent Coullet, 43: Sentenced to 10 years for aggravated rape

  25. Adrien Longeron, 34: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape and child abuse imagery

  26. Hughes Malago, 39: Sentenced to five years for attempted rape and two aggravating factors

  27. Ahmed Tbarik, 54: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  28. Husamettin Dogan, 43: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

  29. Romain Vandevelde, 63: Sentenced to 15 years for aggravated rape

  30. Joseph Cocco, 69: Sentenced to three years for aggravated sexual assault

  31. Saifeddine Ghabi, 37: Sentenced to three years for sexual assault

  32. Jean Tirano, 52: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  33. Mohamed Rafaa, 70: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  34. Ludovick Blemeur, 39: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

  35. Patrick Aron, 60: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape

  36. Abdelali Dallal, 47: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  37. Grégory Serviol, 33: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  38. Cedric Grassot, 50: Sentenced to 12 years for aggravated rape

  39. Cendric Venzin, 44: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

  40. Mahdi Daoudi, 36: Sentenced to eight years for mass rape and drugging

  41. Thierry Postat, 61: Sentenced to 12 years for aggravated mass rape and drugging, and possession of child abuse images

  42. Florian Rocca: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

  43. Dominique Davies, 45: Sentenced to 13 years for aggravated rape

  44. Cyprien Culieras, 45: Sentenced to six years for aggravated rape

  45. Mathieu Dartus, 53: Sentenced to seven years for aggravated rape

  46. Cyril Beaubis, 47: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

  47. Paul-Koikoi Grovogui, 31: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  48. Omar Douiri, 36: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape

  49. Redouane Azougagh, 40: Sentenced to nine years for aggravated rape

  50. Hassan Ouamou, 30: Sentenced to 12 years for aggravated rape

  51. Redouane El Farihi: Sentenced to eight years for aggravated rape