Kevin Spacey's four-week sex offences trial at Southwark Crown Court continues.
Four charges of indecent assault have been dropped due to a “legal technicality”
Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish were giving evidence for the defence.
Spacey previously told Southwark Crown Court that incidents were consensual.
Read latest updates below:
Four charges against Kevin Spacey dropped
On Wednesday, the four indecent assault charges on the indictment, which were alternative counts, were struck off by the judge, due to a “legal technicality” and not as a result of the prosecution abandoning any allegation.
The jury was directed to concentrate on what happened and whether it was a crime, and not be concerned with precise dates when things happened.
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Furnish asked whether celebrities could ask not to be pictured at balls
Giving evidence via videolink, David furnish was asked if it was possible that a celebrity attending one of the couple's balls could not be pictured.
Furnish told the court: “It never happened. It was understood we were promoting a charity involving the eradication of stigma surrounding disease. For celebrities wanting to come to our event, it was always understood they needed to be photographed.”
He added: “To have a star of the magnitude of Kevin Spacey and to go to OK! and say he didn’t want to be photographed, that would be an impossible situation for the foundation to be in.”
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Spacey pictured arriving at court on Monday. (PA)
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Elton John says he doesn't remember Mini being stored at his home
Sir Elton John has told Kevin Spacey’s trial that the star went straight to a ball at his house after flying in on a private jet, then bought a Mini Cooper at the event and stayed the night, Lucas Cumiskey and Ken Brown reported for PA.
The singer, who gave evidence via video link from Monaco, was called as a defence witness in the Oscar-winning actor’s trial at Southwark Crown Court in London on Monday.
He denies 12 charges concerning four men, including sexual assault and indecent assault, which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC asked Sir Elton and his husband David Furnish, who gave evidence just before him, about when the actor had attended a fundraising event at their home in Windsor.
Spacey is alleged to have made a man “almost come off the road” after an alleged “painful” crotch grab as he drove the actor to the lavish showbiz party.
Spacey previously told jurors how he stored “the most expensive” Mini Cooper “ever” in Sir Elton’s garage.
Sir Elton said the actor attended the event in the early 2000s and stayed the night but said he could not remember him visiting the property after that.
Ms Agnew asked Sir Elton if he had a recollection of Spacey at the event.
Sir Elton said: “Yes, because he arrived in white tie. He was on a flight, he came on a private jet and he came straight to the ball.”
On whether he came straight from the private jet, he added: “I assume so, yes.”
Ms Agnew added: “Do you remember that at that ball he bought a Mini?”
After Sir Elton confirmed his recollection, she added: “And do you remember that that Mini was kept at your home for quite some time?”
The Rocket Man star added: “That I don’t remember but it’s possible because it was his car and he was going somewhere else.
“I have no recollection of it.”
Asked if Spacey visited their home again after the ball, Sir Elton said: “At the night that he attended the ball, he stayed over night at our house.”
Pressed again on whether he had returned after the event, he added: “I can’t remember him coming after that, no.”
Sir Elton said he did not remember the arrangements for the Mini being moved from his house.
The trial continues.
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Singer Sir Elton John appeared by videolink in a London court on Monday to give evidence at Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey's sexual assault trial.
Spacey, 63, has pleaded not guilty at London's Southwark Crown Court to 12 charges of sexual offences allegedly committed against four men between 2001 and 2013.
The offences allegedly took place at a time when he was mainly living and working in Britain, including from 2003 as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London.
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Music superstar Sir Elton John has appeared as a witness for the defence at Kevin Spacey's sex assault trial.
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Elton John and David Furnish have taken the stand as part of Kevin Spacey’s defence in the actor’s trial for sexual assault at Southwark Crown Court. Both men are giving evidence via videolink from Monaco.
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One witness described a culture that saw young men warned about Kevin Spacey's alleged behaviour.
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Sir Elton John is giving evidence for the defence in Kevin Spacey’s sexual assault trial on Monday. John appeared remotely from Monaco to testify after his husband, David Furnish, said Spacey only once attended the annual gala the singer held at his Windsor home. One of the alleged victims accused Spacey of aggressively grabbing his crotch while he was driving with him to the ball in 2004 or 2005.
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Elton John gives evidence
Sir Elton John has been called on as a defence witness, giving evidence via video link from Monaco, in the trial of Kevin Spacey at Southwark Crown Court.
Sir Elton John and his husband David Furnish have given evidence as defence witnesses in the sex assault trial of Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey.
Spacey, 63, standing trial under his full name Kevin Spacey Fowler, denies sex offences concerning four men, including sexual assault and indecent assault, which are alleged to have been committed between 2001 and 2013.
On Monday, Sir Elton told the trial that Spacey went straight to a ball at his house after flying in on a private jet, then bought a Mini Cooper at the event and stayed the night.
Spacey, who was labelled a “sexual bully” when proceedings began last month, broke down in court as he listened to 10 character references from family and friends from inside the theatre and film industry, including words from the son of late actor Jack Lemmon and House star Robert Sean Leonard.
Prosecutor Christine Agnew KC asked Sir Elton and his husband, David Furnish, who gave evidence just before him, about when the actor had attended a fundraising event at their home in Windsor.
Spacey is alleged to have made a man “almost come off the road” after an alleged “painful” crotch grab as he drove the actor to the lavish showbiz party.
The defendant previously told jurors how he stored “the most expensive” Mini Cooper “ever” in Sir Elton’s garage.
Sir Elton said the actor attended the event in the early 2000s and stayed the night but said he could not remember him visiting the property after that.
Ms Agnew asked Sir Elton if he had a recollection of Spacey at the event to which Sir Elton said: “Yes, because he arrived in white tie.
“He was on a flight, he came on a private jet and he came straight to the ball.”
On whether he came straight from the private jet, he added: “I assume so, yes.”
Ms Agnew added: “Do you remember that at that ball he bought a Mini?”
After Sir Elton confirmed his recollection, she added: “And do you remember that that Mini was kept at your home for quite some time?”
He added: “That I don’t remember but it’s possible because it was his car and he was going somewhere else. I have no recollection of it.”
Mr Furnish also told the court he remembered Spacey attending the event in question, adding: “He was an Oscar-winning actor, there was a lot of excitement he was at the ball.”
Questioning Mr Furnish, the prosecutor said: “We’ve heard that on the occasion when Mr Spacey Fowler attended the ball he bought a Mini?”
Mr Furnish said the car was sold at the ball and “Kevin was the highest bidder”.
On them subsequently storing the car for him, he added: “Yes because Kevin didn’t have a place of residence in the UK at that time and needed somewhere to store his car.”
Also on Monday, Lemmon’s son, Chris Lemmon, said in his character reference that Spacey was “like another son” to his father, adding: “So became like a brother to me.”
House and Dead Poet’s Society star Robert Sean Leonard’s words prompted an emotional response from the defendant.
Leonard said Spacey is “positive, supportive and respectful” and said he has never seen anyone lead a company better than the American Beauty actor.
Giving evidence last week, Spacey denied he is a sexual bully and labelled the prosecution’s case against him as “weak” – accusing one alleged victim of being after “money, money and then money”.
He told Southwark Crown Court he could have had sex “all the time” but found it hard to trust people because of his fame.
Over the course of the trial, each of Spacey’s accusers have given evidence – variously describing him as a “vile sexual predator”, “slippery” and “atrocious, despicable, disgusting”.
The trial continues.