Coronation Street star Bill Roache cleared of all charges

The Coronation Street actor Bill Roache has been cleared of a string of sexual offences by a jury at Preston Crown Court.

The 81-year-old, who is known to millions as Ken Barlow from the TV soap, had strenuously denied two counts of rapes and five counts of indecent assault on girls aged 16 and under dating from between 1965 and 1972.

The jury found him not guilty on six counts, having already been directed by the judge to clear him of one of the charges of indecent assault.

ITV News' UK Editor Lucy Manning reports:

During the trial, Mr Roache told the court it was "against my nature" to commit rape and that he had never gone looking for "gratuitous sex".

The prosecution had portrayed the actor as an opportunist who took advantage of an atmosphere in which he was constantly surrounded by doting female fans.

But this characterisation was contradicted by Anne Kirkbride, Mr Roache's on-screen wife Deirdre Barlow, who described him as "a perfect gentleman".

Chris Gascoyne, who plays Peter Barlow in the soap, said that Mr Roache "kind of sets the precedent for everybody" and added that he had never seen anything "untoward".

The court heard from four complainants who claimed Mr Roache had assaulted them on visits to Granada Studios in Manchester, or during drives in his silver Rolls-Royce.

John Friend Newman, a floor manager at the studios, described to the court the entry system for the dressing room areas which would have made it difficult for fans to visit.

A fifth complainant said Mr Roache had raped her on two occasions in 1967 at the actor's bungalow in Lancashire.

Asked by Mr Roache's barrister, Louise Blackwell QC, to give more details of what happened immediately afterwards, she said: "I never thought I'd ever repeat these events. I buried them for 47 years. Now you ask me to recall every single detail, I just can't do it."

Mr Roache was questioned about a signed photo and letter he had sent to one of the complainants asking her to write back "when you start school again".

Accused of conspiring to set up a meeting with her, Roache said he had simply wanted to "put something in to make it personal and friendly".

The letter had read:

The actor was accompanied on almost every day of the trial by his daughter Verity and sons James and Linus.

He admitted he had been "intermittently" unfaithful during his first marriage to Anna Cropper, but said he had been faithful to his second wife for 39 years.

"I had plenty of very attractive, wonderful partners," he told the court, but added that "youngsters have no attraction to me at all."

Asked whether he would say he was attractive to members of the opposite sex in the 1960s, he said it was "for others to say" but that he did receive "fan mail which suggested that".

But he denied that he had ever been interested in "gratuitous sex" and "certainly not with underage people".

In her summing up, Louise Blackwell QC told the court that the claims against him were inconsistent and did not make sense: