London’s Metropolitan Police Service, also known as Scotland Yard, announced Tuesday that British police are investigating at least 11 alleged sexual assaults committed by disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein. According to British investigators, the assaults occurred between the late 1980s and as recently as 2015.
“Officers from the Met’s Child Abuse and Sexual Offences Command are investigating allegations of sexual assault from seven victims under Operation Kaguyak,” British police said in a recent statement. “There has been no arrest at this stage.”
Without publicly identifying Weinstein by name, Scotland Yard disclosed the fact that the police received the first allegation on October 11, claiming “a man sexually assaulted a woman in the late 1980s in west London.” Since that initial report, British police have been investigating at least nine cases of sexual assault that allegedly occurred on British soil, while the NYPD and LAPD continue investigating allegations of sexual assault and rape.
British actress Lysette Anthony publicly disclosed that she had made the police report on October 11. After Anthony reported her encounter with Weinstein, several other British women have come forward informing Scotland Yard of the alleged sexual assaults against them.
In the early 1990s, a 19-year-old Miramax intern named Sophie Morris reported Weinstein for sexually assaulting her at the Savoy hotel in London. Morris later dropped the charges in fear of retaliation against her by Weinstein.
“My main point in speaking out is that I was never part of this world, I was never an aspiring actress looking for a part, I was a 19-year-old person doing admin, earning a bit of extra cash in my year out after my A-levels,” Morris told The Guardian. “There could be others like me who want to speak out but haven’t. It is easier for actresses to speak out because they have Hollywood behind them.”
While managing phone calls for Weinstein, Morris heard the Hollywood film mogul call her into the bathroom where he sat nude in the tub. After Morris refused his request, a naked Weinstein allegedly exited the bathroom and removed her top when Morris fled from the hotel room.
After reporting the incident to the British police, Morris recalled, “I remember I got a call from this woman who ran the office and who said that Harvey wanted to speak to me. I did not want to speak to him. I was scared. I was 19 and had no responsible adult to talk to about this. I hadn’t even told my mum or dad what had happened. I told her I didn’t want to speak to him. I assumed that they had told him I had gone to the police and I told her I would drop the case. I never heard anything again.”
During a recent interview with The Guardian, Morris disclosed, “Part of me does want to re-report it, because we need to stack up these cases against him because he’s going to keep denying them. If they tell me I would need to re-report it, I would definitely pursue it.”
Once again refuting the deluge of accusations against Weinstein, his spokeswoman repeated, “Any allegations of non-consensual sex are unequivocally denied by Mr. Weinstein.”
Since October 5, more than 50 women have come forward with allegations of sexual assault, harassment, forced to perform sexual acts, and rape against Weinstein. Unlike the U.S., Britain does not have a statute of limitations for sexual assault or rape.
Expelled from the Producers Guild of America and stripped of the British Film Institute’s highest honor, Weinstein has reportedly entered rehab in an attempt to lighten his sentence in the face of multiple impending international sexual assault and rape investigations.
COMMENTS