A French court found Dominique Pelicot guilty on Thursday of repeatedly drugging and raping his wife for almost a decade, and inviting dozens of strangers to rape her unconscious body in a case that has horrified the world.

Thibaut Rey, 38, spotted the serial rapist taking images of three women at the LeClerc shopping centre and confronted him, holding his phone until police arrived to make their arrest. “Pelicot didn’t resist. He froze with terror. I saw the fear in his eyes,” he said.

The security guard who caught Dominique Pelicot upskirting women at a supermarket, which led to the discovery of his abusive crimes, has recalled the “terror” and “fear” in his eyes.

Dominique Pelicot has been given a 20-year prison sentence after being found guilty of the aggravated rape of his ex-wife Gisèle Pelicot by a court in the French city Avignon on Thursday, in a trial that horrified France and the world.

Gisèle Pelicot spoke of her "very difficult ordeal" after 51 men were convicted Thursday in the drugging-and-rape trial that riveted France and turned her into an icon.

Gisèle Pelicot's ex-husband and 50 others have been found guilty of raping the 72-year-old woman over an almost 10-year period. Dominique Pelicot will spend 20 years behind bars after admitting to drugging his then wife and inviting strangers to rape her while she was unconscious.