Harvey Weinstein has had one of his six charges of sexual assault dropped.

Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein

A New York judge has ruled that the first charge of criminal sexual act in the first degree, which comes from the alleged 2004 encounter he had with actress Lucia Evans, against the disgraced movie producer should be dismissed.

And lead prosecutor Joan Illuzzi-Orbon insisted the dropping of the charge would "not affect the strength of the larger case". She added: "We are moving full-speed ahead."

It is believed the charge was dropped after a friend of Evans told prosecutors that Evans had performed oral sex on Weinstein in exchange for an acting job and the pal had told a NYPD officer about it. The detective had then "failed to inform" prosecutors of "important details" about what they had been told.

Weinstein's lawyer also said he would continue to try and get the remaining five charges against his client dismissed. He told the judge: "The integrity of these proceedings has been compromised."

And added to reporters: "While the crime of sexual assault is certainly serious, to falsely accuse someone of sexual assault is equally serious."

Meanwhile, Rose McGowan - one of Weinstein's biggest accusers - previously insisted she would maybe "forgive" Weinstein if she got "justice".

She shared: "F*** it. F*** your forgiveness. No moving on, not if they're still doing it. What are you moving on from? That's part of the older generation doing that same bullshit. You know what? Don't put your timeline on me. Don't put your timeline on other victims. It's a way of shutting people up. It's expected of us to be feminine and gracious, but they haven't been gracious with us. Forgiveness? Maybe when I'm 80. If I feel like it."

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