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| The actor's on screen wife, Deidre, played by Anne Kirkbride, will give evidence during the four week trial, the court heard |
William Roache, 81, who has played Ken Barlow on ITV for five decades, preyed on fans in the 1960s, confident his celebrity status meant they would not complain, it was claimed.
One 14-year-old was attending a talent contest when Roache led her into the men’s toilet and made her perform a sex act on him, Preston Crown Court was told. He later wrote her a letter enclosing a signed photograph to secure her loyalty.
But following the exposure of serial sex offender Jimmy Savile in 2012, a jury heard that five women, who were aged between 12 and 16 at the time of the alleged offences, finally felt confident enough to come forward.
‘You may well conclude by the end of this trial that William Roache’s fame and popularity provided not only the opportunity for his offending but that it is one of the predominant reasons for his victims’ decades of silence,’ prosecutor Anne Whyte, QC, told the jury. (more...)
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