Mercutio singer Ross William Wild was described by a judge today as a “manipulative and sadistic” sexual predator when he was convicted of a single charge of rape and two of sexual assault after a six-week trial. The former Spandau Ballet frontman was also found guilty of a single charge of voyeurism against a fourth woman and remanded in custody ahead of sentencing next month.
Ross William Wild was found not guilty on another sexual assault charge and another of controlling and coercive behaviour.
Wild was arrested at his parent’s house in June 2022, accused of filming himself abusing six sleeping women and was charged with raping a seventh woman, who he was also alleged to have blackmailed. The charges covered 17 offences occurring between 2013 and 2018.
At the arrest, the Met Police’s Specialist Crime command unit seized a mobile phone which allegedly featured images of sleeping women being molested. He was remanded in custody.
Wild faced charges, including six counts of sexual assault and six counts of voyeurism. There was a charge of rape in 2013 and blackmailing and disclosing a private sexual photograph of the same woman in 2017 with the intent to cause her distress, as well as causing criminal damage to her property.
During a six-week trial, the jury at Wood Green Crown Court heard claims that he harboured a “darker” and “sinister” side, with a fantasy of having sex with women while they were asleep.
The court heard that Wild told one woman he is accused of raping that he liked the idea of having sex with a mannequin or doll. One woman, the court was told, was treated like a “sexual slave.”
Prosecutor Richard Hearnden told the court another woman told police she had been unaware he had filmed himself groping her breasts. “The defendant, if these things are true, was an utterly manipulative and sadistic individual,” Hearnden said. “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.”
Wild, who had denied the accusations, said that everything was consensual between him and the women concerned. He also denied three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, one count of voyeurism, one count of intimidation and one of controlling behaviour.
Wild filmed himself 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 “slag” and a “whore” before he raped her.
During the trial, Hearnden asked, “Did he touch you at all?”
“Yes, he proceeded to touch me,” she said. “He invaded my personal space and then started to touch me.”
The prosecutor asked what was going through her 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.”
Asked why not report it straight away, the woman 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.”
Hearnden asked if she and Wild ever talked about it. “He didn’t speak to me about it,” she said. “I brought it up years later, and he said, ‘No, I don’t remember that.'”
Wild told the police that “everything was consensual between him and the women concerned and played up that he was unconventional in his sexual tastes.”
Wild told the court he filmed himself fondling women to “spice things up”. He said he had been “experimental” in his sex life but admitted that he had not deleted footage when asked to.
Wild was in court under his birth name, Ross William Davidson. He was previously known for starring in the West End musical We Will Rock You before joining the pop group Spandau Ballet as lead singer.
The majority guilty verdict was reached after nearly 12 hours. Wild was cleared of a charge of controlling and coercive behaviour relating to the fourth complainant. The judge told Wild he had been convicted of “some very serious matters.”
He will return to court for sentencing on 6 September 2024.
Has he been sentenced yet? What did he get? A long time, I hope.