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Ex-Spandau Ballet singer Ross Davidson found guilty of rape and attempted rape

Former Spandau Ballet frontman Ross Davidson has been found guilty of rape and attempted rape.

Davidson, who used the stage name Ross Wild, performed as a singer for the 1980s band in 2018 and also starred in the Queen-based West End musical We Will Rock You.

The 37-year-old from Finchley, north London, had pleaded not guilty to the rape of a woman in London in March 2015, and denied the attempted rape and sexual assault of another woman in Thailand in December 2019.

On Wednesday, jurors at Wood Green Crown Court found him guilty of all charges after more than 11 hours of deliberation.

The court heard that the Aberdeen-born performer carried out the assaults because he felt he could get "sex on demand".

Prosecutor Richard Hearnden said Davidson had been thought of as "a bit of a sex symbol" but the two women said he had "a much darker side that they did not notice, at least at first".

Mr Hearnden said that Davidson was considered "charming and charismatic" but "will resort to rape and sexual assault if he is not given what he thinks he deserves".

Davidson, who met both women on the dating app Tinder, claimed the sexual activity he engaged in was consensual.

The rape victim told the jury she was left feeling "helpless" and "scared to react" after Davidson attacked her while she was asleep in his bed.

She also said Davidson had "mentioned he liked the idea of having sex with a mannequin, a person in a helpless state, someone not moving".

Davidson described himself as "sex positive", telling the court the term meant having an "open dialogue, open-mindedness about people's predilections, just an openness to trying different sexual appetites".

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Davidson had earlier pleaded guilty to a charge of voyeurism in December 2019 against the woman in Thailand after he secretly filmed her on his phone as she slept.

The woman said she woke up in a hotel room to find Davidson trying to have sex with her without her permission.

The prosecution said detectives tracked her down after finding Davidson's mobile phone video.

She told the court she had no idea the video existed until she was told by police in 2023.

Davidson admitted the voyeurism charge, but denied the sexual assault, saying he created the video for "selfish reasons, for sexual gratification" and claiming he "had permission to touch her but not to film".

He told the jury: "I wish I had never done it."

The court heard Davidson had been found guilty of rape, two counts of sexual assault and voyeurism at a previous trial.

He is due to be sentenced for the later convictions at a later date. A further hearing has been set for 4 February.

Sky News

(c) Sky News 2026: Ex-Spandau Ballet singer Ross Davidson found guilty of rape and attempted rape

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