Kevin Spacey attends London sexual assault hearing on video-link from Middle East to face seven new charges
Actor’s ‘travel plans had changed’, says defence lawyer as judge suggests rail strikes would have stopped him getting from airport
Kevin Spacey has attended a London court hearing by video-link from the Middle East to face seven new sexual offence charges.
The fresh charges against the Oscar-winning actor relate to offences Spacey allegedly committed against one man in the early 2000s. He has previously denied five allegations brought by three other men, now aged in their 30s and 40s – bringing the total number of charges facing him to 12.
The latest allegations, brought by one man, include three counts of indecent assault, three counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in sexual activity without consent.
Wearing a tie and glasses, the 63-year-old spoke only to give his full name, Kevin Spacey Fowler, his date of birth, and his address as an apartment in London’s Waterloo area, which is home to the Old Vic theatre where Spacey served as artistic director for 11 years, until 2015.
Spacey had been expected to appear from the US, but his “travel plans had changed” and he was instead appearing from the Middle East, said his defence laywer, Patrick Gibbs KC.
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring, who had granted the application for him to appear by video-link, said: “He would not have got here from the airport, would he, with the rail strike.”
Mr Goldspring said that the new charges were “related offences to that which is already before the court”, in a reference to the five other charges already facing Mr Spacey.
He granted Spacey unconditional bail ahead of his next appearance at Southwark Crown Court on 13 January, when he is expected to appear in person.
Spacey is due to stand trial in June over four charges of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent, to which he pleaded not guilty at the Old Bailey in July. At that hearing, Mr Justice Wall also granted Spacey unconditional bail.
Spacey’s lawyer, Mr Gibbs, had previously told Westminster Magistrates’ Court that the actor “strenuously denies any and all criminality in this case”.
He now faces a total of 12 charges relating to four men between 2001 and 2013.
Additional reporting by PA