Tom Daley’s husband twisted woman’s wrist, court hears

By James W Kelly & PA Media

BBC News

The assault case against Oscar-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black has been dismissed mid-trial.

Mr Black, who is married to Olympic champion Tom Daley, was accused of assaulting Teddy Edwardes at a nightclub in Soho on 18 August 2022.

He was alleged to have twisted the presenter’s wrist “very hard”.

But the judge at Westminster Magistrates’ Court dismissed the charge, citing inconsistencies in Ms Edwardes’s evidence.

District Judge Louisa Ciecora told the court: “(Edwardes) said in her evidence at one point that she could not remember a wrist grab.

“She then said that she was sure that it did happen – and that was an obvious contradiction.”

The judge added CCTV footage was “not clear” due to “the angle of the camera”.

The decision means Mr Black and Mr Daley do not need to take the stand.

It follows a submission from Helena Duong, defending, who said the prosecution failed to prove Mr Black grabbed Ms Edwardes’ wrist and that he had grabbed Ms Edwardes’s drink and spilled it on the floor.

Ms Duong added it was Ms Edwardes, who presents the Big Pride Party Agency on BBC Three, who had shown aggression.

It was an agreed fact in the case that Ms Edwardes punched Mr Black in the back of the head. She received a police caution for the punch, the court was told.

Speaking to the press after the hearing, Mr Black, who won an Oscar for best original screenplay for 2008’s Milk, described the judge’s dismissal as a “moment of exoneration”.

He said: “This case has flown in the face of everything that I am.

“I am very grateful to the judge for exonerating me.”

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