FORMER Spandau Ballet singer Ross Davidson raped and filmed himself molesting a succession of women, a court has heard.
The 36-year-old Scotsman – known to fans as Ross Wild – demanded sex up to six times a night – and forced himself on victims when they did not comply, a jury was told.
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Davidson filmed himself sexually abusing sleeping victims who were unaware they had been molested until shown the videos, London’s Wood Green crown court heard.
The singer had a deviant fantasy about having sex with women while they were asleep, it was alleged.
It is because he expects to get sex on demand that he will resort to rape and sexual assault if he is not given what he thinks he deserves
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden
One woman was allegedly sexually assaulted and filmed by Davidson as she slept at the Cannes film festival in the South of France.
Another was treated by Davidson as his “sexual slave,” it was alleged.
Aberdeen-born Davidson is accused of a series of sex offences against five women and raping three of them over a ten-year period between 2013 and 2023.
He faces further charges of voyeurism, intimidation and controlling behaviour.
Davidson wore a light grey suit and pink shirt when he appeared for the opening of his trial on Tuesday afternoon.
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden described Davidson as ‘’a bit of a sex symbol’’ and very good looking – but said he also had ‘’a darker side.’’
He told jurors how Davidson starred in the West End musical ‘We Will Rock You’ and became lead singer for Spandau Ballet in 2018.
Referring to him by his stage name while describing his career, Mr Hearnden said: ‘’As a performer and as an individual, Wild was a bit of a sex symbol.
‘’He is very good looking and physically fit. He sings, plays the guitar, and is said to be charming and charismatic.
‘’His darker side is not the first thing that many women and girls notice about him.
‘’But the women in this case can all attest to that sinister part of his personality.
‘’For it is alleged that he has raped, coerced, and sexually assaulted a number of young women over the last decade.’’
The prosecutor said “it is often supposed that men such as the defendant, blessed with good looks and star quality, can get any girl he wants’’ without resorting to using force to commit sexual offences and rape.
Yet, Mr Hearnden added, ‘’the reality belies that supposition.’’
He said it was his fantasy, his desire, to have sex with a woman while she was asleep
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden
He went on: ‘’In this case, many young women have come forward to tell the police that they have been victims of Mr Davidson’s predatory behaviour.
‘’It is because he expects to get sex on demand that he will resort to rape and sexual assault if he is not given what he thinks he deserves.’’
Davidson allegedly secretly filmed himself raping the first woman after they had an argument at his flat in Finchley, North London, on 1 October 2013.
Mr Hearnden said; ‘’Afterwards, he said to her ‘Why do you look like you’ve been raped’. She was shocked he would ask such a question.”
He added: ‘’Unusually, there is actually independent proof of what happened.
‘’This is because the defendant secretly filmed it. This is not the only video of him abusing women and girls that will feature in this case.
‘’Why he chose to film it and the others is not known, but it would seem he was doing it for his own personal gratification and, one imagines, so he could watch the videos in the future.”
‘FANTASY’
Mr Hearnden said the defence would argue the sex attack was only role-play and involved the woman looking like a victim in a rape scenario.’
It is further alleged he sexually assaulted the same woman by grinding his crotch against her, saying: “This is what you want’.’
He is accused of secretly filming himself fondling a second woman’s breasts – and showing her holding his penis by her right hand.
The woman was questioned by the police and is said to have been unaware she had been filmed.
She remembers pushing against or on his chest with both her hands to emphasise the point
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden
The prosecutor said: ‘’According to the complainant, the defendant said to her that he had a particular fantasy.
‘’He said it was his fantasy, his desire, to have sex with a woman while she was asleep.”
He added: ‘’The woman says that she was disgusted and distressed about the video when she found out about it.’’
Davidson allegedly sexually abused a third woman in Cannes, where he had gone for the film festival in May 2018.
Mr Hearnden said: ‘’What he did to her was bizarre and perverted – he fondled her breasts while she was fast asleep. She didn’t know this, of course.
“The complainant has identified herself from a screenshot taken from the video, shown to her by the police.
‘’When she found out that she had been sexually molested she was devastated. What is especially notable is that she did not report him.’’
Davidson is accused of filming a fourth woman committing a sex act on him without her consent and later raping her at his home.
Describing the alleged rape, Mr Hearnden said: “She said she didn’t want to have sex with him and told him so repeatedly.
“She remembers pushing against or on his chest with both her hands to emphasise the point.”
After he had raped her, she went to the bathroom and phoned her mother, the court heard.
Mr Hearnden said: “Her mother recalls that she was whispering on the phone, saying that the defendant had hurt her.
“She simply gave her daughter reassurance not knowing, she says, that she had been the victim of a non-consensual act.”
‘SEXUAL SLAVE’
The woman also claims Davidson treated her as a “sexual slave” and made her clean his home.
Mr Hearnden said: “The defendant, if these things are true, was an utterly manipulative and sadistic individual.
‘She was being used as some sort of sexual slave. He wanted to have sexual intercourse five or six times a night.’
“When she said it was too much, he forced her to have sex with him.
She felt scared, intimidated, and helpless. He was so much stronger than she was and felt concerned for her safety. She definitely did not give the defendant consent to do this
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden
“He even told her that he had a kink of having sex with women while they were asleep.”
The prosecutor said Davidson met another complainant in February 2012 on the online dating app Plenty of Fish’ and she went to stay with him in March 2015.
Mr Hearnden said: “She woke up in the defendant’s bed and found that he was having sex with her while she was asleep.
“She felt scared, intimidated, and helpless. He was so much stronger than she was and felt concerned for her safety. She definitely did not give the defendant consent to do this.
“Somehow she managed to extricate herself, went to the bathroom, and put a brave face on it. The last thing she wanted to do was to provoke him further.”
The prosecutor said the woman recalled how Davidson had earlier told her he liked the idea of having sexual intercourse with a ‘model.’
Mr Hearnden said: “He did not mean, it transpired, a supermodel, a very attractive person, but something else entirely.
“What he was really describing was sex with a dummy, a mannequin, or a doll, that sort of model.
“He told her, she claims, that he liked the idea of the other person, the woman, being still and not showing any emotion and not reacting to the sexual act at all.
“She said he never said to her that he wanted to have sex in such a way with her, nor did she tell him that she wanted to play such a role.”
The court heard how Davidson was arrested at his home on 30 March 2021 and quizzed about one of the alleged rapes, two of the sexual assaults and the “sleep videos.”
The prosecutor said he maintained “everything was consensual between him and the women concerned and played up that he was unconventional in his sexual tastes.”
Davidson denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, one count of voyeurism, one count of intimidation and one of controlling behaviour.
The trial continues.
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