Spandau Ballet singer Ross Davidson is jailed for 14 years for rapes and sex assaults against six women

Former Spandau Ballet singer Ross Davidson was jailed for 14 years today for a series of rapes and sexual assaults against six women.

Ross Davidson, 38, was convicted across two trials of two counts of rape, an attempted rape, three sexual assaults, and two charges of voyeurism, in offences committed against six women between August 2013 and December 2019. 

The sex-addicted singer, who used the stage name Ross Wild, had starred in Queen-based West End musical We Will Rock You and performed in 2018 as the lead singer for 1980s favourites Spandau Ballet. 

The Scotsman had become ‘a bit of a sex symbol’ with the minor fame he had built up and thought it gave him the right to have any woman he wanted, the court was told.

He denied the assaults and told the court: ‘I have never raped, sexually assaulted or coerced any woman in my life.’ 

He called himself ‘sex positive’ and claimed all contact with the women was consensual, but juries found him guilty of a string of charges. 

Davidson had a secret desire to have sex with women while they slept – and got a kick out of filming it too, Wood Green crown court heard.

Davidson first stood trial in July 2024 when he was convicted of assaults against three women.

He was convicted by the jury of raping the first woman and of sexually assaulting the second and third woman. He was also convicted of voyeurism, in relation to a fourth complainant.

Aberdeen-born Davidson denied one charge of rape in relation to a fifth complainant and was convicted of that attack after a retrial in January.

She had met Davidson in February 2012 on the online dating app Plenty of Fish and said she was attacked by him in March 2015 after she went to stay with him in Finchley.

The woman said Davison made her wear an S&M (sadism and masochism) sex collar with wrist restraints.

He was also convicted of attempted rape and sexual assault in relation to a sixth victim he met in Thailand.

Davidson sat in the dock reading a book as a series of impact statements from his victims were read.

One woman said she suffered ‘severe psychological harm’ and ‘lost all self belief’ after she was raped.

She added: ‘My life has been permanently changed. I no longer feel safe and able to trust the world.

‘I did nothing to deserve what happened.

‘I ask the court to note that this wasn’t a single moment but an experience that continues to shape my life everyday.’

Another victim said when she realised what Davidson had done to her she ‘felt violated and betrayed by someone I trusted’.

She has since been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and prescribed sleeping tablets.

‘This was all as a direct result of what Ross did to me,’ she said. ‘I would describe myself as living in limbo, I am surviving but not living and enjoying life anymore.’

Another victim said: ‘This man took away my youth, my innocence and my freedom.’

She added: ‘Even in prison nothing will ever bring justice for what he has done.’

Judge John Dodd said of the first rape attack: ‘You recorded the grim event and the recording was shown at your trial.

‘This was shocking and disgraceful behaviour directed against a young woman.’

The judge said Davidson was a ‘charismatic and successful musician’ when he attacked his victims.

‘Each of them gave evidence and each of them told the truth vividly.

‘Their sense of betrayal was clear for all in court to see.

‘You had a particular interest in a sleep play but in reality it was sexual abuse…it was your kink, your fetish.’

Judge Dodd jailed Davidson for a total of 14 years and said he would be eligible for release after serving two thirds of the term.

Davidon has served 679 days of the sentence while on remand, the court heard.

Richard Hearnden, prosecuting, earlier described Ross as a ‘bit of a sex symbol.

‘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, coerced, and sexually assaulted a number of young women over the last decade.

‘It is often supposed that men such as the defendant, blessed with good looks and star quality, can get any girl he wants without having to resort to committing sexual offences, without having to resort to forcing himself on women, without having to resort to rape.

‘Yet, the reality belies that supposition. In this case, many young women have come forward to tell the police that they have been victims of Mr Davidson’s predatory behaviour.

‘It is because he expects to get sex on demand that he will resort to rape and sexual assault if he is not given what he thinks he deserves.’

Davidson filmed himself raping the first woman after they had an argument at his flat on 1 October 2013.

‘Afterwards, he said to her ‘why do you look like you’ve been raped’. She was shocked he would ask such a question.

‘Unusually, there is actually independent proof of what happened.

‘This is because the defendant secretly filmed it.’

Davidson sexually assaulted the same woman by grinding his crotch against her as he groaned: ‘This is what you want’.

A second woman was sexually assaulted by Davidson when he fondled her breasts.

He told her he had a ‘particular fantasy’ to have sex with a woman while she was asleep.

She was ‘disgusted and distressed’ to find out he had filmed her too.

A third woman was attacked in Cannes where he had gone for the film festival in May 2018.

‘What he did to her was bizarre and perverted: he fondled her breasts while she was fast asleep. She didn’t know this, of course,’ the prosecutor said.

The woman later identified herself from a screenshot taken from the video.

‘When she found out that she had been sexually molested she was devastated.’

A fourth woman claimed she was also filmed by Davidson as she gave him oral sex.

When she caught him with his phone in his hand he said he was ‘replying to a text.’

‘She said she thought it was weird that he was texting while she was doing this for him,’ the prosecutor said.

She claimed he had repeated intercourse with him and was too sore for more sex.

Davidon was ‘an utterly manipulative and sadistic individual,’ said Mr Hearnden.

‘She was being used as some sort of sexual slave. He wanted to have sexual intercourse five or six times a night.’

The fifth complainant told jurors she read an article ‘that displayed a similar case to mine and that encouraged me that what I experienced was not a one-time offence.’

She said she met Davidson on the dating app ‘Plenty of Fish’ and they met for the first time when she stayed with him on Davidson’s 24th birthday and they had consensual sex. 

In 2014, she stayed with him again for a long weekend.

Mr Hearnden said: ‘The weekend, this time, was less good. She felt that his manner had changed and he had become more assertive and, even, aggressive. He would be sharp with her and cut her off in conversation.

‘One morning he told her off for leaving strands of her long hair in the bath and belittled her accordingly. He even marched off out of the house on his own because she was taking too long to do her make-up.

‘On the second or third evening, they were chatting in the living room. Without breaking conversation, he went into the bedroom and came out with a sado masochistic sex collar with wrist restraints and just put it on her.

‘He did so without saying a word or asking her permission. She felt he was doing this to show his power and dominance over her.

‘She recalled that Ross had said to her he liked the idea of having sexual intercourse with a ‘model’.

‘He did not mean, it turned out, a model as in a very attractive woman, but the other type of model.

During an investigation police found a video on Davidson’s phone of him touching a woman while she was asleep in Thailand, the court heard.

Police identified the woman who said she was travelling in Thailand when she went on Tinder to find someone to do ‘touristy things’ with.

She said they ended up having ‘drunk sex’ with Davidson but when she woke up he was trying to penetrate her without a condom.

She knew nothing about the video of her until she was told by the police, Mr Hearnden said.

Davidson told police she was pretending to be asleep in the video and denied attempting to rape her.

‘He said he spent a fortune on her and that they both had kinky and adventurous sex,’ Mr Hearnden said.

Davidson was arrested at his home on March 30, 2021, and questioned about one of the alleged rapes, two of the sexual assaults and the ‘sleep videos’.

He was interviewed by police and maintained ‘everything was consensual between him and the women concerned and played up that he was unconventional in his sexual tastes’.

The Scot 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.

‘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’.

Charlotte Newell, KC, defending, asked him: ‘You were described in the prosecution’s opening as sadistic. Would you accept that characterisation?’

Davidson replied: ‘I would say that I’m the opposite. I’m more masochistic than sadistic, sexually.

‘When it comes to sex I prefer domination rather than me dominating someone else.’

He claimed the first woman enjoyed being strangled: ‘She preferred being dominated.

‘In fact, she liked to be choked and stuff like that. I would never really go there. She wanted full strangulation, and I could never do that to a woman.’

Ms Newell asked: ‘Have you ever raped, coerced, or sexually assaulted young women, ever?’

Davidson replied: ‘I have never raped, sexually assaulted or coerced any woman in my life.’

He admitted he had filmed the first woman, but he said it was always with her consent.

Davidson added: ‘It was absolutely with her knowledge.’

Asked about the video of him allegedly abusing the first woman Davidson insisted she consented to being filmed and claimed it was merely role playing.

Ms Newell asked: ‘You told her you wanted to film her?’

Davidson replied: ‘Yes, explicitly.’

‘She said do anything, and I said, ok this is what I want to do.’

Ms Newell said in her mitigation today that the singer met many men and women through his career who were interested in him sexually.

‘He had a very active sex life and had very many sexual partners.’

Davidson, of Finchley, north London, was convicted of rape, attempted rape and sexual assault after a trial in January.

In July 2024 he was convicted by a jury of rape, two charges of sexual assault and voyeurism of fourth complainant.

Shikha Verma, Senior Crown Prosecutor in CPS London said: ‘Ross Davidson is a predatory sex offender who targeted multiple victims over a number of years. Several of these offences were committed against women while they were asleep.

‘I want to pay tribute to the victims for their immense courage in supporting the prosecution and Davidson has now been held accountable for his horrific crimes.

‘We understand the courage it takes for victims to come forward and would like to reassure any victims that the CPS will continue to work tirelessly with partners across the criminal justice system to ensure sexual abusers face the full extent of the law.’