[Uk] 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.

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.

The American actor 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.

Jurors were played a recording of the first complainant's police interview, before the man was questioned by Mr Spacey's lawyer while concealed behind a curtain.

The man alleges Mr Spacey assaulted him up to "12 times" on instances 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 detailed how 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 first meeting him, adding: "Right from the get-go I would say he was grooming me."

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".

He said on one occasion the actor grabbed his crotch while he was driving, forcing him to pull off the road, and that if he attended Mr Spacey's south London apartment, the actor would be "half-naked, if not naked" and would "try to touch me" before he left.

The complainant 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 complaint 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 said it was "well-known he was up to no good" among those associated with the Old Vic theatre and people were warned to "be careful".

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

Defending Mr Spacey, Patrick Gibbs KC began his in-person cross-examination by asking the complainant to confirm that he thought at the time his client was a good actor.

He 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."

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