Coronation Street star cleared of rape charges

Coronation Street actor Bill Roache has been cleared of raping and sexually assaulting five women in the 1960s and 70s.

The 81-year-old was found not guilty of all charges after a three-and-a-half week trial, where he was accused of raping a 15-year-old girl and indecently assaulting four other teenagers.

Roache, who has played Ken Barlow since Coronation Street began in 1960, maintained his innocence throughout. He insisted he had never met his accusers, let alone molested them.

The Guardian reports he said of the result: “In these situations there are no winners and I think we should all be much kinder to ourselves. Now, if you will excuse me, I would like to get back to work.”

He thanked his employer ITV Granada, his legal team, family, friends and colleagues for their support, and well-wishers.

Roache did not respond when asked if the trial had been “a witch-hunt”.

UK police said: “We entirely respect the verdict reached by the jury today; the burden of proof in our system is quite rightly very high and we thank them for considering this matter so carefully.”

It said that it remained committed to investigating allegations “of this nature, no matter how historic”.

The Coronation Street cast also stood by him, with three co-stars giving evidence under oath. Anne Kirkbride, his on-off screen wife Deirdre Barlow for more than 40 years, described Roache as “a perfect gentleman” who always behaved “impeccably”. Chris Gascoyne, who plays his son, Peter Barlow, said Roache was an inspiration, while Helen Worth, best known to viewers as Gail Platt, described him as the soap’s “elder statesman”.

Roache is now expected to return to Coronation Street where he hasn’t appeared since April last year, when Deirdre announced that Ken had taken an impromptu holiday.