Ep 381 Sleeping with the Enemy: Profiling the Husband Who Drugged and Raped Zoe Watts, Part 2

Zoe Watts's husband confessed to drugging and raping her, tying her up and taking intimate photographs and videos without her consent. Yet even after he disclosed what he had done to medical professionals, Zoe still didn't understand that she was being raped. 

In Part 2, Laura continues her interview with Zoe, unravelling his sadistic and brazen behaviour that shaped their 22-year marriage. Laura examines how Zoe's husband intentionally destabilised her and how professionals who should have recognised the danger. 

In this episode, Laura and Zoe unravel: 

Sadistic cruelty, manipulation and psychological abuse and the toll it took on Zoe; 

Confessions, gaslighting and deliberate confusion; 

Drug-facilitated rape and image-based sexual abuse; 

The misuse of mental health explanations to excuse abusive behaviour; 

Professional failures and missed opportunities to safeguard Zoe’ 

Coercive control, isolation and psychological undoing; 

Trauma, dissociation and the long road to recovery; 

The police becoming involved — and a terrifying break-in 

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of domestic abuse, coercive control, stalking, physical violence, suffocation, sexual violence, drug-facilitated rape and image-based sexual abuse.