By BRIAN MELLEY Associated Press
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LONDON — A jury in London acquitted Kevin Spacey of sexual assault Wednesday after the Oscar winner’s star turn as a witness in his own defense spared him a possible prison term and offered him hope of a career comeback after six years without a job.

Tears rolled down Spacey’s cheeks as the final “not guilty” verdict was read. The Oscar winner looked at the jury, placed his hand over the lapel of his blue suit and pink shirt, and mouthed “thank you.” It was his 64th birthday.

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“I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today,” a humbled Spacey said outside Southwark Crown Court after thanking a handful of jurors in the lobby. “I am enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts carefully before they reached their decision.”

Spacey’s two days of testimony culminated with him choking up as he spoke of his six years without work since the sex abuse allegations against him surfaced in 2017.

“My world exploded,” Spacey testified. “There was a rush to judgment and before the first question was asked or answered, I lost my job, I lost my reputation, I lost everything in a matter of days.”

Three men accused Spacey of aggressively grabbing their crotches, describing him as “vile” and a “slippery, snaky” predator. A fourth, an aspiring actor, said he awoke to the actor performing oral sex on him after falling asleep or passing out in Spacey’s London apartment where he had gone for career advice and a beer.

Spacey said he was a “big flirt” who had consensual flings with men and whose only misstep was touching a man’s groin while making a “clumsy pass.”

Defense lawyer Patrick Gibbs said three of the men were liars and that their encounters had been “reimagined with a sinister spin.” He accused them of hopping on a #MeToo “bandwagon” in the hope of striking it rich. Two of the men have sued Spacey.

Prosecutor Christine Agnew called Spacey a “sexual bully” who preyed on younger men. She said he was shielded by a “trinity of protection” — he knew men were unlikely to complain; they wouldn’t be believed if they did complain; and if they did complain, no action would be taken because he was powerful.

Spacey had faced nine charges, including multiple counts of sexual assault and one count of causing a person to engage in penetrative sexual activity without consent. Jurors deliberated for 12.5 hours over three days before reaching their verdict.

Spacey had viewed the London case as a chance for redemption, telling German magazine Zeit last month that there were “people right now who are ready to hire me the moment I am cleared of these charges in London.”

During deliberations, jurors asked Justice Mark Wall to summarize the testimony of a man who said the actor grabbed his crotch so forcefully while he was driving to a gala at Elton John’s that he almost ran off the road.

In a cameo appearance, the rock star and his husband, David Furnish, testified by video from Monaco and offered a timeline that cast doubt on the driver’s account. They said Spacey didn’t attend the White Tie &Tiara Ball the year the man said, but had been a surprise guest three or four years earlier in 2001.

That was significant because the man said he had begun working with Spacey in the early 2000s and suffered from unwanted fondling for years. He said the incident in the car was the final straw and he avoided the star afterwards.

The accusations dated from 2001 to 2013.