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03rd Oct 2023

British Games of Thrones star in court over child sex offence

Steve Hopkins

The actor has called the charges ‘absolutely horrifying and completely untrue’

A British Games of Thrones star has appeared in court in the US charged with having sexually explicit chats online with a minor.

Joseph Gatt, who played Thenn Warg on the popular HBO fantasy series, appeared in a Los Angeles criminal court Monday and was bailed on an outstanding felony warrant for contact with a minor for a sexual offence in LA on April 2022.

The LA Superior Court judge presiding over the case, Judge Enrique Monguia, said the hearing would continue on 4 December after prosecutor Michael Fern told him that “additional discovery is needed” for the case to move forward, MailOnline reported.

The 51-year-old, who starred in Black Adam, was arrested in LA some 18 months ago, with his home searched by police officers of the Juvenile Division, Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force.

As well as being charged with contacting a minor, Gatts also faces a charge of felony possession of an assault weapon.

Gatts earlier pleaded not guilty to both charges.

He was bailed, but banned from unsupervised time with minors, possessing pornography, and using social media unless it’s for work purposes.

A week after his arrest, London-born Gatt – who has lived in the US for 18 years – tweeted that he denied the charges where he said were “completely untrue”.

He wrote: “I obviously want to address the absolutely horrifying and completely untrue allegations recently levelled against me.

“They are 100% categorically wrong and reckless. ‘I have confirmed errors and misleading information in today’s press release.”

Gatts went on to say that he was “fully cooperating with police and LAPD to get to the bottom of this” and was looking forward to “clearing my good name”.

He thanks his friends and supporters “who know that this is untrue and understand for legal reasons I cannot comment further on social media.”

Gatts’ girlfriend, Mercy Malick, has called the allegations against her partner “beyond insane.”

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