Notting Hill playwright cleared of groping actress in rehearsal

A playwright accused of groping a young actress during a rehearsal has been cleared of sexual assault today. Simon David, 57, assaulted the actress at the Royal Court Theatre in Sloane Square on December 6 last year, it was claimed. She said he grabbed her buttocks and touched her breasts while rehearsing a dramatisation of Mr David’s poems “E Is For Ecstasy” and “Kiss Not Over”. Mr David, who worked in the theatre’s bookshop for 16 years, pleaded not guilty…