British police charge Kevin Spacey over alleged sex crimes

Police said the alleged assaults had taken place between March 2005 and April 2013 - four in the capital London and one in Gloucestershire.

 Actor Kevin Spacey is arraigned on a sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Nantucket (photo credit: REUTERS)
Actor Kevin Spacey is arraigned on a sexual assault charge at Nantucket District Court in Nantucket
(photo credit: REUTERS)

British police said on Monday they had charged Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey over historic allegations of sex offenses, with the actor due in court on Thursday.

Prosecutors last month authorized the charges to be brought against Spacey, 62, on four counts of sexual assault against three men, and a further charge of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. 

Police said the alleged assaults had taken place between March 2005 and April 2013 - four in the capital London and one in Gloucestershire. They involved one man who is now in his 40s and two men now in their 30s.

"He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court at 10am (0900 GMT) on Thursday, 16 June," London's Metropolitan Police said, confirming Spacey had been charged on the five counts authorized by the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) following his arrest.

Spacey, who won Academy Awards for The Usual Suspects and American Beauty in the 1990s, has said he is willing to defend himself in Britain and is confident any trial will prove his innocence.

 Actor Kevin Spacey walks down Carlo Alberto street as he visits the city, where he is expected to return for a cameo appearance in a low budget Italian film, after largely disappearing from public view, in Turin, Italy, June 1, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/MASSIMO PINCA/FILE PHOTO)
Actor Kevin Spacey walks down Carlo Alberto street as he visits the city, where he is expected to return for a cameo appearance in a low budget Italian film, after largely disappearing from public view, in Turin, Italy, June 1, 2021. (credit: REUTERS/MASSIMO PINCA/FILE PHOTO)

Spacey's dying career

Once one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Spacey has largely disappeared from public view since being accused of sexual misconduct five years ago.

In November 2017, London's Old Vic theater said it had received 20 separate allegations of inappropriate conduct by Spacey from 20 men who came into contact with him at the theater, or in connection with it, between 1995 and 2013.

He was dropped from the TV show House of Cards and removed from the movie All the Money in the World after the accusations of sexual misconduct came to light.