William Roache has been cleared at Preston Crown Court of all charges. This was the latest in a series of high profile trials.
Bill Roache may be the longest serving soap star in the world, but he would have been facing a long sentence had he been convicted of raping underage girls. The news was broken by the BBC shortly before 11.30am London time.
The historical allegations against Mr Roache resulted from the Savile revelations, which have led to numerous other arrests.
Unlike the case of Stuart Hall, some of the “evidence” adduced in this and another ongoing case was clearly ridiculous, including one that he had raped a teenage girl in a studio toilet, one which was in constant use.
Roache’s co-stars turned out en masse to support him, and fortunately common sense prevailed.
It is likely that he will now return to his acting role in Coronation Street.
[The above article was published originally February 6, 2014. The word historic has been replaced by historical.]
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