Coronation Street actor William Roache has been charged with two counts of raping a 15-year-old girl in 1967.
The 81-year-old actor, who has spent more than 50 years playing Ken Barlow, was held for questioning in the UK yesterday.
Crown prosecutor Nazir Afzal has since told the Daily Mail: ”Having completed our review, we have concluded that there is sufficient evidence and it is in the public interest for Mr Roache to be charged.”
He would appear at Preston Magistrates’ Court on May 14.
Television network ITV said it would edit out a number of scenes from Friday’s show in the UK that feature the actor, reported the Daily Telegraph.
He would not appear in the show while the investigations continued, said the network. He will continue to appear on screens in New Zealand as the episodes being shown here are many months behind those in the UK.
In March, Roache was forced to apologise after an outcry over his comments to a Kiwi journalist suggesting the victims of sexual abuse were paying the price for actions in previous lives. He also made comments that seemed to excuse paedophilia.
In regards to the sex abuse allegations surrounding dead British entertainer Jimmy Savile, Roache said the public should be “totally forgiving” of people who had committed sex crimes. Police have not linked Roache’s arrest to the Savile case.
Lancashire Police told the Daily Mail: ”We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse, or anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge they will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity.”
Roache was recently in New Zealand as part of the Coronation Street stage show and his character is the longest running on a television soap series.
Another actor on the show, Michael Le Vell, who played Kevin Webster, was charged earlier this year with a raft of child sex offences. He is facing 18 charges that include raping a child, indecently assaulting a child and sexual activity with a child. He maintains his innocence. Le Vell has been suspended from the show.
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