Singer assaulted sleeping woman, court hears

A former singer with Spandau Ballet told a woman "thanks for being cool about it" when she calmly talked him down from raping her, a court has heard.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said she woke up to find Ross Davidson trying to have sex with her in a hotel in Thailand without her permission and without a condom.

The alleged incident happened in December 2019 after she and Davidson had drunken sex the night before, Wood Green Crown Court heard.

Davidson, 37, of Finchley, north London, is on trial accused of attempted rape and sexual assault of the tourist in Thailand and also the rape of another woman in London in 2015. He denies all the charges.

In a police interview played to the court, the woman told officers it had been daylight, she had slept heavily and was a bit hungover when she woke up to find herself in a "dangerous situation".

Davidson seemed surprised she woke up, as she asked "what are you doing?", she said.

His eyes were "weird and I did not know what was going to happen", so she spoke calmly to him "to lessen it [the situation] so that he did not try to hurt me", the jury heard.

The interview continued with the woman saying: "I remember him [Davidson] saying 'thanks for being cool about it'."

Recalling Davidson's response when she woke up, the woman said: "He froze but he had this scary look on his face."

She said she told him he had to ask and that he was not wearing a condom, but she spoke in an easy voice to calm the situation, the court heard.

Davidson was "very tense" at first but became "very calm" as she was letting him know she was not "going to freak out," she told detectives.

Davidson, who used the stage name of Ross Wild, had starred in Queen-based West End musical We Will Rock You and performed in 2018 as the singer for 80s favourites Spandau Ballet.

The Aberdeen-born musical theatre actor is also alleged to have filmed himself groping the woman.

The jury has been told he has pleaded guilty to a charge of voyeurism against the same woman.

Detectives tracked down the tourist after finding video footage of her on Davidson's mobile phone where she is lying down in a hotel bedroom in Phuket, Thailand, the prosecution said.

She was fondled while "asleep, still and unresponsive", the jury has been told.

Defence counsel Charlotte Newell KC previously said that in relation to the rape charge, Davidson would tell the court he did not have sex with the alleged victim because he was not attracted to her.

In relation to the alleged assault in Thailand, Davidson is to say the sexual touching was with permission and that the woman was pretending to be asleep.

The trial continues.

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