Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
‘Meeting actress alone at home was terrible decision’
Director regretted lunch visit, trial told
A FILM director said it was a “terrible decision” to meet an actress alone at her home for lunch, his sexual assault trial heard.
Stephen Fingleton and the woman swapped numbers at an industry party and later dined at her Fulham flat in West London.
Following their lunch on October 27, 2017, the alleged victim accused him of attacking her.
Giving evidence at Isleworth Crown Court yesterday, Fingleton, who denies the one charge against him, said he wished he had never gone to the woman’s apartment.
He added: “I wasn’t sure I was meeting her alone and I didn’t check.
“It was clearly a terrible decision, I really wish I hadn’t done it. It was really stupid.
“My belief was, as long as you’re just open and up front with someone you can spend time with them.”
He told the jury he thought about the day of the accusation “every time I wake up, throughout the day, before I go to bed”.
Fingleton, from Enniskillen, Co Fermangh, said he had been at a “turning point” in his career when the accusation was made.
He added: “I would say I had some success but I was not well known.
“I was on the point of becoming successful. At the time of the allegation I was attached to an American film that was to shoot the next year.
“That was with well-known actors, it was kind of a turning point. It’s gone now.”
The jury heard that after lunch Fingleton allegedly grabbed the woman’s head, pushed it towards his crotch and said: “You get down there, you get down there.”
They heard when she told the 35-year-old she was not interested, he then held her hands and tried to kiss her.
Giving evidence the woman, who is in her 20s, feared Fingleton could have raped her if he wanted to and she shouted he had to leave.
She also told jurors she started crying but the accused had then hugged her, stroked her hair and put his hand under her T-shirt.
The trial continues.
I would say that I had some success but I was not well known STEPHEN FINGLETON COURT YESTERDAY