A Harry Potter and Star Wars actor has been convicted by a jury of indecently exposing himself to a teenage schoolgirl on a train. Nicholas Read, a celebrity dwarf who has appeared in a number of fantasy movie roles, touched himself in a lewd manner under a juggler's hat on his lap. The 40-year-old entertainer tilted the black bowler-style hat so only the 17-year-old victim sat next to him could see what he was doing. Read, of Wade Close, Cheadle, denied exposure, saying nothing untoward occurred on the 55-minute journey from London to Leicester, on October 16 last year. A jury unanimously convicted him at Leicester Crown Court yesterday. Recorder Richard Bond said: "It was deliberate and persistent and I saw how distressed the victim was as she had to re-live what the defendant did. "The aggravating feature is his 2004 previous conviction for indecent assault. It's either a short-term in custody or a suspended sentence with a requirement for treatment for his problem, which is his desire to do terrible things to girls."
Read will now have to enlist on a sex offender register.
Read was arrested on arrival at Sheffield and denied any wrongdoing. He said he was listening to his iPod on the journey with his hands either on top of his hat, or underneath it, and nothing remotely sexual happened. He said he was "merry" after drinking half a bottle of gin earlier that day, while judging a croquet competition. Read has been in the entertainment industry since childhood. He was a Gringotts goblin in the 2000 film Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone, and an Ewok Warrior in the 1982 Star Wars: Return of the Jedi.
The jury was told he had a previous conviction for indecent assault in 2004 when, after a party with a Snow White panto cast, he "flaked out" on the stage manager's sofa. He later drunkenly climbed into bed with the sleeping stage manager and his girlfriend, and put the woman's hand on to his genitals.
