COPS PROBE 3 MORE UK SEX ATTACKS
Soap star reports ‘disgusting’ alleged attack to police as more claims emerge
THREE more women have told UK police that movie mogul Harvey Weinstein sexually assaulted them.
The news came as Hollyoaks actress Lysette Anthony said he raped her in the 80s.
LYSETTE Anthony has vowed to do all she can to bring Harvey Weinstein to justice after claiming the movie mogul raped her in the 80s.
The Hollyoaks star spoke as it was revealed Scotland Yard have ordered a specialist team to investigate allegations of sexual assault in Britain against the Hollywood producer.
And police believe there may be more women ready to come forward with complaints against disgraced Weinstein, after receiving three new allegations.
Lysette claims he pounced on her at her flat in London.
She said yesterday: “I had to stand up for the truth. I’m 54 and a successful soap actress, working in a world I’m fiercely proud of. He can’t hurt me any more.”
A source close to former movie star Lysette added: “She is adamant that there needs to be justice and she wants so see Weinstein in court and answering questions for what he has done.
“She has made a big step going public and will do whatever it takes now.”
The actress – who plays Marnie Nightingale in the soap – won support from co-star Gregory Finnegan, her on-screen son.
He wrote online: “Incredibly proud of my soap mum for coming forward after all this time to tell her incredibly painful story.”
Lysette’s rape claim is one of four against Weinstein, 65, the Met is looking at.
Fresh complaints from one alleged victim relate to incidents in 2010, 2011 and 2015 in London.
And a further claim was made yesterday with a former employee of Miramax, Weinstein’s company, using the pseudonym “Sarah Smith” now considering a formal complaint to police.
Last week, Lysette revealed she had just reported a historical crime and tweeted a photo of the case number, adding “feel
sick... so sad”. She told how she first met Weinstein in 1982. For the first few years they met at parties and lunch and nothing untoward happened.
But after a few years Weinstein started a now familiar pattern in his behaviour towards actresses. At a Chelsea house he was renting, he was half undressed and grabbed Lysette before she fled.
Then he began to stalk her, turning up unannounced at her home, she claims. Speaking of the alleged rape, she said: “I was in my dressing gown and I answered the door to find Harvey standing there.
“He pushed me inside and rammed me up against the coat rack in my tiny hall and started fumbling at my gown. He was trying to kiss me and touch me. It was disgusting. Finally I just gave up.
“At least I was able to stop him kissing me. As he ground himself against me and touched me, I kept my eyes shut tight, held my breath, just let him get on with it. It was pathetic, revolting.”
“Sarah Smith” claimed dad-of-five Weinstein raped her in the flat of his London offices in around 1992. She has only confided in her husband about the alleged attack within the last few days.
The woman said: “Even after all these years, I can still wake up screaming. I wanted the opportunity to speak out but I just couldn’t see how.”
A police spokesman said: “On October 11, Merseyside Police referred an allegation of sexual assault to the Metropolitan Police.
“It is alleged a man sexually assaulted a woman in the late 80s in west London.
“On October 14, further allegations were made against the same man. It is alleged he sexually assaulted a woman in Westminster in 2010 and 2011, and in Camden in 2015.”
British actress Kate Beckinsale and French actress Eva Green are among others to make allegations against him.
In America, four claims of rape and more than 30 of sexual harassment have been made, including allegations by Angelina Jolie and Gwyneth Paltrow.