Former Spandau Ballet star raped woman after demanding sex ‘six times a night’ and forcing her to act out ‘mannequin fantasies’, court hears

A former Spandau Ballet star has been accused of raping a woman after demanding sex from her six times a night and forcing her to act out a “mannequin fantasy.”

As the jury at Wood Green Crown Court in north London heard, 36-year-old Ross Davidson forced himself on women who rejected him.

Davidson, who became lead singer of the Spandau Ballet in 2018 and was best known to fans as Ross Wild, According to the public prosecutor, he is accused of a series of sexual offenses against five women, raping three of them.

The crimes are said to have occurred over a ten-year period between 2013 and 2023.

A woman who was allegedly raped by Davidson in his London flat in 2015 said in video evidence presented to the court that having sex with him felt like a “business relationship”.

During her testimony, she described how Davidson arbitrarily placed a leather and buckled collar on her that connected her neck to her wrists.

She told the court: “I remember that when I was in London, at the estate, he left the room in the middle of a conversation – without interrupting – and came back with a collar with handcuffs attached.”

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“Without interrupting the conversation, he just put it on me and I just let it happen.”

When asked by prosecutor Richard Hearnden why, the alleged victim replied: “I didn’t know what would happen if I protested.”

She described his behavior when he put the collar on her as “nonchalant” and that he acted “as if what was happening was not strange or unusual.”

The court then heard Davidson tell her about his disturbing “mannequin” fantasy. The alleged victim said: “He was expressing a fantasy that he liked to live out.”

“He mentioned that he liked having sex with models, and at first I thought that only meant people who worked as models – very attractive people.”

“But after the conversation, what he meant by that was mannequins, someone who pretends to be a still, lifeless and unresponsive person – as if he were a mannequin.”

“I remember finding it very strange. I couldn’t imagine how much joy it would bring.”

After the alleged rape, jurors heard that Davidson continued to copy-and-paste promotional material to her for the band he had played in before joining Spandau Ballet.

She said: “He would occasionally send messages to promote himself and upcoming concerts, again for his band, more of a marketing thing.”

“It felt more like a ‘copy and paste, send to everyone’ type message.”

The Scot was seen as “some sort of sex symbol” by his fans after starring in the West End musical We Will Rock You about a decade ago, his trial revealed.

He replaced Tony Hadley as singer of Spandau Ballet in 2018, but left the band 11 months later.

Davidson, from Finchley, north London, denies three counts of rape, three counts of sexual assault, one count of voyeurism, one count of intimidation and one count of controlling behaviour. The trial continues.