Kevin Spacey has declared this Thursday in the British Criminal Court /
The American actor’s trial in London is delayed until June 2023
Kevin Spacey has pleaded “not guilty” to five counts of sexual assault and rape of three men in his first appearance before the British National Criminal Court, better known by the name of the street where it is located, Old Bailey. The award-winning actor, 62, has firmly repeated his declaration of innocence before each accusation in a brief court hearing, which Judge Mark Wall presided over on Thursday, in room number one of the historic City of London building. The magistrate has agreed to proceed with the trial on June 6, 2023 and revalidated the precautionary release, without conditions, that the American accused has enjoyed since his voluntary return to the United Kingdom.
Kevin Spacey Fowler, according to the proceedings, is accused of sexually assaulting three men and inducing one of them to engage in “penetrative sexual activity”. The events would have happened on four different dates (March 2005, August 2008 and April 2013) and in different scenarios, according to the statement of charges published by the British Prosecutor’s Office. The sexual assaults would have been perpetrated in London, while the alleged rape would have happened in an undisclosed location in the west of England.
The actor was working in London in the years in question. He ran the Old Vine Theater for a decade until 2015, and the following year he was honored with a Knighthood of the British Empire for his services to international theatre, arts and culture. Shortly thereafter, in the wave of ‘MeToo’, allegations surfaced in the United States of Spacey’s alleged misconduct with young actors. In London, the Old Vic received more than twenty complaints of sexual and workplace harassment from theater staff and three individuals filed complaints with the Police.
At the initial hearing, in Westminster court last June, the defense indicated that the famous actor “categorically denies” the accusations. The lawyer underlined the willingness that his client has shown to collaborate with the authorities since Scotland Yard reopened the investigation of the alleged crimes committed in England. The Prosecutor’s Office pointed out, in turn, that the review of the police evidence led to its decision to file charges against the now humiliated professional.
Spacey will remain under the cloud of suspicion of being a sexual pervert until the outcome of the trial in London. In the US, he has settled most of the complaints with out-of-court settlements, although he has a civil lawsuit pending in a federal court in New York. This case has been filed by his first accuser, actor Anthony Rapp, who has maintained since 2017 that Spacey wanted to take sexual advantage of him when he was a minor. The three alleged victims in the British case are believed to have been in their 20s and 30s when they met the then manager of the Old Vic.