Ex-Spandau Ballet singer accused of multiple rapes ‘told woman she deserved it’, court hears
Ross Davidson on trial accused of series of sex offences against five women and raping three over a decade
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A former Spandau Ballet singer told one of the multiple women he has been accused of raping that she “deserved it”, a court has heard.
Ross William Wild, whose real name is Ross Davidson, is standing trial at London’s Wood Green Crown Court accused of a series of sex offences against five women and raping three of them between 2013 and 2023.
The 36-year-old’s trial, which began on Tuesday, heard he had a “darker” and “sinister” side, with a fantasy to have sex with women while they were asleep and an expectation to “get sex on demand”, allegedly wanting sex up to six times a night and forcing himself on women who refused his advances.
Davidson – who was previously known for starring in the West End musical We Will Rock You before becoming the lead singer of the pop group Spandau Ballet – has now been claimed to have filmed himself fondling women while they slept and enjoyed role-playing rape scenarios.
Davidson, who was born in Aberdeen, filmed himself allegedly raping one of the five women after they had an argument at his flat in Finchley, north London, on 1 October 2013.
She told the court Davidson was aggressive, angry and pacing up and down the bedroom, calling her a “sl**” and a “wh***” before he raped her.
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden asked her: “Did he touch you at all?” The alleged victim replied: “Yes, he proceeded to touch me, he invaded my personal space and then started to touch me.”
The prosecutor asked: “He's touching you, what was going through your mind?” She replied: 'What is going on, this is when I was in tears, we were having an argument, this isn't a time to even be this close to someone let alone instigating something.
“He suddenly became calm and was telling me that this is what I want, this is what I deserve.”
She alleged Davidson then pushed her back onto the bed and raped her. “He was quite aggressive, quite strong,” jurors heard. “I said what are you doing, stop, get off me ... The whole time, I was crying.”
Mr Hearnden asked the woman: “Why not report it straight away?” She replied: “I did not believe it happened, I did not want to believe it, it became normal, it became something I felt like I deserved.”
The prosecutor asked her: “Did you and he ever talk about it?” The woman said: “He didn't speak to me about it, I brought it up years later and he said, 'No, I don't remember that.'”
Davidson has denied all accusations and when he was interviewed by police maintained “everything was consensual between him and the women concerned and played up that he was unconventional in his sexual tastes”.
Mr Hearnden previously told the court another woman told police she had been unaware Davidson had filmed himself groping her breasts.
Jurors also heard he told one woman he is accused of raping that he liked the idea of having sex with a mannequin or doll.
Another assault allegedly happened in Cannes, France, in May 2018 when the musician had visited there for the film festival.
Davidson is accused of raping a fourth woman at his home and filming a sex act on her without her consent, with the court hearing that he allegedly treated her like a “sexual slave”.
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.”
A fifth woman went to stay at his home in 2015 having met the star three years earlier on the dating site Plenty of Fish, the court heard. Mr Hearnden said she woke in his bed to find him having sex with her while she was asleep.
Davidson, of Finchley, north London, denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, one count of voyeurism, one count of intimidation and one of controlling behaviour.
He replaced Tony Hadley as Spandau Ballet’s lead singer in 2018 after playing Elvis Presley in the hit West End musical Million Dollar Quartet about a decade ago, alongside the band’s bassist Martin Kemp. However, Davidson lasted less than a year after Gary Kemp said the band would not tour again unless the original – and much older – line-up reformed.
The trial continues.