Corrie star faces more sex abuse charges

Coronation Street actor William Roache will appear in court today accused of five historical offences of indecent assault involving four girls.

Roache, 81, from Wilmslow, Cheshire, was arrested yesterday morning after attending a police station in Cheshire by appointment.

The offences are said to have been committed in the Manchester area in 1965 and 1968 with the alleged victims aged between 11 or 12 and 16. He is due to appear at Preston Magistrates' Court.

Nazir Afzal, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS North West, said: "We have carefully considered all the evidence gathered by Lancashire Police in relation to recent allegations from four complainants that William Roache indecently assaulted them in the 1960s.

"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 with five offences of indecent assault relating to four girls who were aged between 11 or 12 and 16 at the time that the alleged offences happened."

The CPS said Roache faces two counts of indecent assault against a 14-year-old girl in 1965 and three separate indecent assaults in relation to a 16-year-old girl in 1965, a 13 or 14-year-old girl in 1968 and an 11 or 12-year-old girl in 1968.

Roache - the world's longest-serving soap actor - has played Ken Barlow in the ITV1 soap since its launch, but will not be appearing in the programme until legal proceedings are concluded.

He collected an award from Guinness World Records in 2010 for his long service in Coronation Street, having joined in 1960 and appeared regularly ever since.