Lawsuit against Sex Pistols guitarist alleges 1980 sexual assault

— A Vancouver woman has filed a civil lawsuit against Paramount Pictures Corp. and punk rocker Stephen Jones of The Sex Pistols alleging he sexually assaulted her as a teenager while she was a movie extra more than 40 years ago.

A B.C. Supreme Court statement of claim filed by the plaintiff says she was 14 years old and working on the movie Ladies & Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains when Jones supplied her with marijuana, then sexually assaulted her in his hotel room.

The court has placed a publication ban on the woman’s name.

Her lawyer, Jason Gratl, said in an interview that he could not comment about why the lawsuit was brought 44 years after the alleged events.

“I only wanted to say one thing and it’s that she kept a diary,” Gratl said.

The notice of claim filed Wednesday says Paramount didn’t take adequate steps to warn minors or their parents about the risks of working on the set with Jones or impose contractual terms restricting his contact with young extras or using illicit drugs.

None of the allegations have been tested in court.

Paramount did not immediately return a request for comment. Jones could not be reached for comment.

Neither Paramount, nor Jones, have filed a statement of defence.

The lawsuit says Paramount hired Jones, who was 24 at the time, for a role in the film because of his reputation as a “punk rocker” who consumed excessive amounts of drugs and alcohol, and engaged in sexual misconduct, including with underage girls.

The statement says that despite this knowledge, the company did not take steps to protect young workers.

The movie, about disaffected teens in a punk rock band, was released in 1982.

The legal action says the woman is seeking damages, claiming the alleged assault “caused her to suffer psychological injury, including loss of self-esteem, loss of self-worth, injurious self-imaging and identity, and loss of trust in intimacy and potential partners.”

The lawsuit says she was hired as one of the hundreds of extras playing fans for the allgirl feminist rock band. Jones had been hired to play the role of a “socially volatile punk rock guitar player in a fictitious allmale band, The Looters.”

Because she was confused by what had happened, the document says she did not tell her parents and it wasn’t until she was older that she “felt sexually violated and sexually ashamed and angry” about the alleged assault.