Kevin Spacey in tears as he is acquitted of all charges in London sex offence trial
- After more than 12 hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted the actor of nine offences which he was accused of committing between 2004 and 2013
- The Oscar-winning US star wiped away tears, as the four-week trial – in which prosecutors described him as a ‘sexual bully’ – came to a close
) Actor Kevin Spacey broke down in tears after a jury in a London court found him not guilty on Wednesday of carrying out multiple sex assaults on four men.
After more than 12 hours of deliberation, the jury acquitted the Oscar-winning US actor of nine offences which he was accused of committing between 2004 and 2013 when he was working at London’s Old Vic theatre.
Spacey, who turned 64 on Wednesday, began to cry and mouthed “thank you” to the nine men and three woman jurors, before wiping away tears with a tissue. After he was released from the dock, he shook hands with his lawyers before leaving the courtroom via a side door.
During the four-week trial at Southwark Crown Court, prosecutors described the actor as a “sexual bully” who had aggressively groped three of the men and performed oral sex on the fourth while the man had passed out in the Hollywood star’s London flat.
When he gave evidence, the film star, who was tried under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, said the case against him was weak, and that the incidents, if they had occurred at all, were consensual. He said he was promiscuous, a “big flirt” who had “casual, indiscriminate sexual encounters”.
While he might have made a clumsy pass at one of the men, he said he had never assaulted anyone and suggested that the accusers had come forward to make money.