By Thomas Mackintosh & Helena Wilkinson for the BBC
Kevin Spacey denies 12 charges of sexual assault alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013. Photo: NurPhoto via AFP
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.
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 Spacey's lawyer.
The man alleges 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 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 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 Spacey had told him he could introduce him to A-list celebrities.
When Spacey groped him, the complainant said he would make it clear the actor's behaviour was wrong, but he felt Spacey "was getting more excited by this".
If he visited the American actor's south London apartment, 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 Spacey grabbed his crotch while he was driving, forcing him to veer off the road.
Kevin Spacey spent long periods of time in the UK as the director of the Old Vic theatre in south London. Photo: AFP / Joseph Prezioso
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 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 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 Spacey was "pretending to be nice" but was a "predator" who was "aggressive".
He described 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 [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".
Gibbs asked the man if he found 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 Spacey or reciprocated contact.
The complainant said: "You're trying to suggest we had something going on which we... a million percent 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, 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 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.
- BBC
Additional reporting by Sean Seddon
