The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has announced that it will not pursue sexual assault charges against actor Ed Westwick, saying that there is insufficient evidence to move forward.
Three women accused the former Gossip Girl star of sexual assault, with each alleged incident taking place in 2014, but prosecutors say that they were unable to secure enough corroborating evidence.
Documents obtained by PEOPLE show that investigating officers were unable to secure an interview with one of the alleged victims, although the others cooperated and provided access to witnesses.
Prosecutors began their investigation in March, but this week said they would not proceed as they did not have enough information to satisfy the burden of proof, which is “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
In a statement to Buzzfeed, the actor’s attorney said that the facts “demonstrated from the start that each of the allegations made by the three women would be proven untrue.” She continued:
“It is a shame there are those who so publicly prejudged this case and that it took this long for Ed to be fully cleared. I hope that those who made such quick judgment here not knowing anything about the abundant evidence of innocence in this case will hesitate next time before they so swiftly condemn before investigating the truth.”
Filming on season two of Ed Westwick’s BBC series White Gold was “paused” as the investigation was carried out, while his scenes in an Agatha Christie miniseries were re-shot with another actor.
The actor had previously denied all the claims against him and said it was “disheartening and sad” that he had been linked to such “vile and horrific conduct.”
