Kevin Spacey trial: Actor behaved like a 'predator', accuser says

Kevin Spacey was a "predator" who would attack one of his accusers when the two were left alone together, a court in London has heard.

The trial of the actor heard testimony from one of the four men who accuse him of sexual assaults committed in the UK between 2001 and 2013.

The court heard the man was groped so forcefully on one occasion while driving that he swerved off the road.

Mr Spacey has pleaded not guilty to all 12 charges against him.

As the trial against him heard from its first witness, the 63-year-old sat in the dock of Southwark Crown Court and listened to his accuser detail the alleged abuse, which relates to seven of the charges against him.

Jurors were played a recording of the first complainant's police interview, before the man - who has lifelong anonymity under UK law due to the nature of the charges - was questioned in court by Mr Spacey's lawyer.

The man alleges Mr Spacey assaulted him up to 12 times, saying this happened when they were "in a car or in a lift, any time when we became alone".

"Multiple occasions he would try and grope me," he said.

He said that over a number of years Mr Spacey's behaviour progressed from "eerie and awkward" to physical groping and how the actor would "laugh it off and change the subject".

The complainant said Mr Spacey started making him feel awkward a few weeks after they first met, adding: "Right from the get-go I would say he was grooming me."

The man added that Mr Spacey had told him he could introduce him to A-list celebrities.

When Mr Spacey groped him, the complainant said he would make it clear the actor's behaviour was wrong, but he felt Mr Spacey "was getting more excited by this".

If he attended the American actor's south London apartment, Mr Spacey would be "half-naked, if not naked" and would "try to touch me" before he left, the court heard.

He said on one occasion Mr Spacey grabbed his crotch while he was driving, forcing him to come off the road.

Mr Spacey spent significant periods of time in the UK while serving as the director of the Old Vic theatre in south London between 2004 and 2015.

Cross-examining the complainant, defence barrister Patrick Gibbs KC questioned the timing of the alleged incident. The accuser said he was assaulted on the way to Elton John's White Tie and Tiara Ball, an annual charity event held by the singer for a number of years.

The barrister said it was "completely untrue" as Mr Spacey went to the ball once in 2001 - and the complainant said the alleged incident had taken place in the mid-2000s.

"You'll have to forgive me if I've got the dates wrong, it happened 20 years ago," the complainant responded.

The man said he would be relieved when Mr Spacey went back to the US on trips.

"I used to dread when he was coming back," the complainant told police, adding: "My heart used to sink."

The complainant said Mr Spacey was "pretending to be nice" but was a "predator" who was "aggressive".

He described Mr Spacey as a "slippery, snaking, difficult person", adding: "He would tell me he had a troubled childhood. He was a confused man. Didn't know at the time whether he was gay or straight."

The complainant alleged it was "well-known he [Mr Spacey] was up to no good" among those associated with the Old Vic theatre and young, good looking people were warned to "be careful".

He said he now cannot bring himself to watch anything featuring the actor and it "makes me feel sick thinking about that man".

Mr Gibbs asked the man if he found Mr Spacey's behaviour "a bit exciting" or "a bit naughty", to which he replied that he has a female partner and found it "distressing".

As questioning continued, he said: "I was ashamed... after the event, yes I was ashamed."

He dismissed a question about his own sexuality as "ridiculous" and refuted any suggestion he had solicited attention from Mr Spacey or reciprocated contact.

The complainant said: "You're trying to suggest we had something going on which we... a million per cent didn't."

The man said it was "not true at all" that he reported the allegations to police because he "saw a bandwagon coming" and decided to "hop on board".

"It was the fact that it was in the news and it was all coming back to me. It made me have those feelings that I had then, thinking some others have been brave enough to come forward. It caused me to come forward and tell the truth as well," he said.

In January, Mr Spacey - who is referred to in court proceedings by his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler - pleaded not guilty to three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.

He also previously denied four further charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent.

It is these 12 charges which Mr Spacey is currently on trial for and he continues to deny them.

All four accusers are entitled to lifelong anonymity under the law.

The trial continues.

Additional reporting by Sean Seddon