British actress who accuses Roman Polanski of raping her aged 16 'sold her story about life as a 14-year-old prostitute to a newspaper for £30,000'

A British actress who accuses Roman Polanski of raping her sold a story about her life as a 14-year-old prostitute for £30,000, a French court has heard.

The interview by Charlotte Lewis, who is now 56, also contained lurid details about how she pursued the film director romantically, with the intention of becoming his mistress.

The testament is key evidence in a libel trial against Polanski, 90, who denies attacking Ms Lewis when she was 16, in 1986.

His lawyers told the Paris Correctional Court that Ms Lewis never reported the attack to the police.

Instead, she waited until 2010, when she made the claim during a press conference at the Cannes Film Festival.

Charlotte Lewis (pictured) made the allegations of rape public in 2010 during a press conference at the Cannes film festival 

Roman Polanski (pictured, right, in 1986) is being sued by Charlotte Lewis for defamation in France 

Lewis sold her story to the now-defunct News of the World in 1999 for £30,000, with journalist Stuart White (pictured) taking the story on 

When, in 2019, Polanski defended himself in a Paris Match article, by portraying Ms Lewis as a liar and a former child prostitute, she sued him for libel.

Referring to the 1999 interview she sold to the now defunct News of the World for £30,000, she told the Paris court: ‘People believed what was written in the articles about me. They called me a prostitute.’

But Stuart White, the British journalist who wrote the article, said he stood by its accuracy.

Mr White, 77, told the court that it was written with Ms Lewis’s full cooperation, and told the story of how she became ‘a luxury call girl at fourteen’.

Mr White said: ‘Ms Lewis and I discussed at length how best to reveal and write these new revelations.

‘Our intention, as I told her, was to be as compassionate as possible, and that I would write the story accordingly.’

Mr White said: ‘I remember that she was satisfied with the way I had presented the story, making it clear she had been the victim of predators.’

In 2019, Ms Lewis asked Mr White to make a sworn statement saying he had fabricated the prostitute story, but he refused.

Mr White recalled saying: ‘Charlotte, if you think we fabricated this story, why did you wait twenty years to complain?

‘You could have sued News of the World the following week.’

Ms Lewis replied that she had only read the article 10 years later – something Mr White described as ‘absurd and incredible.’

Mr White was the only witnessed summoned by the defence in the one-day libel trial, which ended close to midnight on Tuesday.

Polanski pleaded guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977

In 2019, Lewis asked White to make a sworn statement saying he had fabricated the prostitute story, but he refused

It was the first time that Polanski, a married father of two, has faced court justice since running away from America in 1977

It was the first time that Polanski, a married father of two, has faced court justice since running away from America in 1977 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl.

Despite this, he stayed away from court, instead leaving his lawyers to defend him against claims that he vehemently denies.

Polanski – whose hit movies include Rosemary’s Baby, Chinatown and The Pianist – used the 2019 interview with Paris March to describe the rape claim as a ‘heinous lie’.

He also produced a copy of the News of the World article, which quoted Ms Lewis as saying: ‘I was fascinated by him, and I wanted to be his lover.’

Polanski remains a fugitive from American justice after having sex with Samantha Geimer, 13, in Hollywood in 1977, after plying her with champagne.

He then fled to his home country of France, which does not have an extradition treaty with the USA.

He is now married to the actress Emmanuelle Seigner, 58, with whom he has two children who are now actors – Morgane Polanski, 31, and Elvis Polanski, 26.

The Polanski libel trial has now concluded, and judgement will be handed down on May 14.