Weinstein’s British accusers had to fight for anonymity

British women allegedly raped or sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein took extraordinary steps to prevent the disgraced Hollywood producer from attempting to intimidate them and undermine their cases.

Six British women were so concerned that Weinstein would leak their identities to the media before or during his rape trial in New York that they were granted a highly unusual court order granting them international anonymity.

Last week Weinstein was found guilty of raping one woman and sexually assaulting another, a watershed victory for abuse victims more than two years after the first claims against the 67-year-old surfaced. He is awaiting sentence and is reportedly discussing an appeal.

The London lawyer for British women bringing claims against the producer was worried that until Weinstein was convicted his team might have been tempted to leak the identities of the British women in a move to destabilise them and deter them from pursuing their cases.

Unlike in the UK, there is no automatic anonymity for victims of sexual assault in the US. Jill Greenfield, a partner at law firm Fieldfisher, said her move had been made in order to protect victims from undue pressure. “We have made sure that key parties involved cannot disclose details of my clients. You’ve also got to think about the person who’s had the allegations made against them and who might want to put victims’ details in the press.

“When you have someone so powerful in any walk of life, they may want to put those details out there”, she said.

Greenfield, who lodged the first civil claim at London’s high court against Weinstein for alleged rape and sexual assault days after the allegations against the producer emerged in October 2017, said: “They are entitled to automatic anonymity here but the defendant lives abroad, and the concern is that they are not entitled to automatic anonymity in the US.”

However, Weinstein’s guilty verdict is believed to have convinced at least one of his alleged British victims to speak publicly about her experience for the first time.

Evidence exists that Weinsten and his team have previously attempted to target his alleged victims. In 2017, it emerged that he had tried to suppress allegations that he had sexually harassed or assaulted numerous women.

Weinstein hired private security agencies to collect information on the women as part of a strategy to prevent accusers from going public with sexual assault claims against him.

Most of the women Greenfield is representing are understood not to be high-profile like some of those involved in the New York trial, which featured actresses such as Annabella Sciorra. However, Greenfield added that fears of her clients’ identities being exposed escalated when they had liaised with the New York police department, making it difficult for UK victims to feel safe giving background information for the trial.

“One of the real problems my clients had was they realised that stepping into a court in New York meant the flashbulbs would be going; everything would be reported. Suddenly their lives would be an open book.”

As well as the six cases, which list Weinstein companies in the UK and US as defendants, the Metropolitan Police is currently investigating 16 allegations against Weinstein of sexual assault. from 11 women.

Analysis of Operation Kaguyak, the investigation into allegations involving Weinstein, reveal that the oldest claims date to the 1980s and concern an alleged attack in west London. One woman says she was sexually assualted three separate times, in Westminster in 2010 and 2011, and Camden in 2015. Seven of the alleged attacks took place in the policing area of Westminster, which covers the West End.

Weinstein is facing up to 29 years in prison and is due to be sentenced on 11 March. The New York trial heard weeks of harrowing testimony from six women who claimed that Weinstein had attacked them.

They included an actress who said that he injected something into his genitals to get an erection and raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 2013.

Sciorra, best known for her work in The Sopranos, told the court that she was raped by Weinstein at her home almost 30 years ago. “My testimony was painful but necessary,” she said. Weinstein now faces an additional rape and sexual assault prosecution in Los Angeles.