A “sadistic and manipulative” former Spandau Ballet singer has been found guilty of rape and sexual assault.
Ross Davidson, 36, was convicted of assaults against three women at Wood Green crown court on Thursday. The former singer, who fronted the band between 2017 and 2019 under the stage name Ross Wild, expressed no emotion when the verdict was read out.
The court was told that Davidson wanted intercourse up to six times a night and forced himself on women who refused him. The singer had denied a series of sex offences dating between 2013 and 2023, telling the court: “I have never raped, sexually assaulted or coerced any woman in my life.”
He was found guilty of raping one woman and of sexually assaulting two others. Jurors acquitted him of one count of sexual assault against the woman he raped. Davidson was also convicted of voyeurism.
He was cleared of a charge of controlling and coercive behaviour relating to one of the victims. The guilty verdicts were reached with a majority of either 10-2 or 11-1 after 11 hours and 57 minutes.
The court heard that Davidson had a secret desire to have sex with women while they slept and “got a kick” out of filming the abuse.
He told the court he was interested in “dress up, sleep play, and I’m open to other [kinks]”. “What sleep play is for me is a little sex game where somebody is pretending to be asleep and trying not to react while someone stimulates them sexually,” he said.
“It never lasts more than a couple of minutes before both sides can’t help but take part in it. It’s like a cheeky game.”
The prosecutor, Richard Hearnden, described Ross at an earlier hearing as a “bit of a sex symbol” with a “darker side”.
Hearnden said: “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. He has raped and sexually assaulted a number of young women over the last decade.”
Davidson was arrested at his home on 30 March 2021. He was interviewed by police, to whom he insisted “everything was consensual between him and the women concerned and played up that he was unconventional in his sexual tastes”.
Davidson will be remanded in custody until his sentencing on 6 September.
