Jurors have been sent out to begin their deliberations after hearing closing evidence in the sexual offences trial against US actor Kevin Spacey.
Spacey, 63, has been labelled a “sexual bully” by the prosecution, but he has denied all the claims – describing one as “madness”, others as consensual encounters, and one as nothing more than a potential “clumsy pass”.
The Oscar-winning star has pleaded not guilty to seven charges of sexual assault, one charge of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent, and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity. These relate to four men and allegedly took place in the UK between 2001 and 2013.
Kevin Spacey trial – live updates
Almost four weeks since the trial at Southwark Crown Court in London began, Mr Justice Mark Wall sent jurors out to consider their verdicts on Monday.
During the hearing, jurors have heard evidence from each of Spacey’s four accusers, who variously described the Hollywood star as a “vile sexual predator”, “slippery”, and “atrocious, despicable, disgusting”.
The court has been told of alleged “aggressive” crotch grabs against three men, while a fourth complainant accused the defendant of performing a sex act on him while he was asleep at his flat.
What are the allegations – and how has Kevin Spacey responded?
- Accuser one: The man, a driver, claims he was assaulted more than 10 times by Spacey over four years, and told the court the actor forced his hand onto his own penis several times, and grabbed his crotch on other occasions. Describing one alleged incident to police, the man said Spacey grabbed him “so hard I almost came off the road”. Spacey told the court the pair shared a “somewhat intimate” friendship and there was “romantic” touching, but that they never slept together. Any sexual touching was consensual, the actor told the court.
- Accuser two: This man alleges Spacey grabbed his crotch and kissed his neck at a property where the star was staying, hours after meeting him at a countryside pub. Spacey conceded that he may have made a “clumsy pass” at the man, but that it would have been no more than this. “I’m only happy that he testified that the moment he told me he was not interested, I stopped,” the actor told jurors.
- Accuser three: The third alleged victim says Spacey subjected him to a “machine gun” of verbal abuse at a showbiz event before grabbing his genitals “like a cobra – and grabbed with such force it was really painful”. Spacey told the court that none of this is true, describing the allegation as “madness”.
- Accuser four: A former aspiring actor told the jury he believes he was drugged by Spacey before he allegedly woke to find him performing a sex act on him at the actor’s London flat. In his defence, Spacey told the court the sex act was “intimate” and consensual. However, he said the man’s behaviour then changed. “The person that I had this intimate moment with was suddenly awkward and fumbling… and I don’t want to say ran out… but hurriedly left,” he said. “And it felt very odd.”
Under questioning from Spacey’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs KC, the men have all denied either seeking financial gain, attempting to further their career, or giving false accounts to the jury.
Spacey, best known for films including The Usual Suspects and American Beauty, and political series House Of Cards, has denied crotch-grabs are his “trademark”, and also fought back tears as he told the court how his “world exploded” when allegations against him were first made in the US in 2017.