William Roache, better known as “Coronation Street’s” Ken Barlow is arrested over allegation of the rape of an under-age girl
Recently, we reported on remarks given by Coronation Street actor William Roache MBE to a New Zealand television programme about people who have committed child sex crimes. Roache bizarrely said that the public should be “totally forgiving” of such individuals. This morning, he was arrested over an allegation that he raped an under-age girl in Lancashire between April and July 1967.
Mr Roache is the grandson of a Freemason who was interested in hypnotism, theosophy and esotericism. He is himself a vegetarian and spiritualist and was photographed participating in Druid rituals in the 1970s.
The actor gained the nickname “Cock Roache” after openly admitted to having slept with over 1,000 women and also happens to sit on the board of Oystons Estate Agency with the television presenter Stuart Hall OBE. Mr Hall is currently awaiting trial on three counts of indecent assault between 1967 and 1986 whilst the company’s founder, Owen Oyston, was jailed for six years in 1996 after having been convicted of rape.
A spokesman for Lancashire Police commented:
“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”.
Currently two other Coronation Street actors, Michael Le Vell, who plays Kevin Webster, and Andrew Lancel, who played Frank Foster, are awaiting trial on child sex charges. Le Vell, also known as Michael Turner, will go on trial at Manchester crown court on 2nd September 2013 whilst Lancel, also known as Andrew Watkinson, will see his trial commence at Liverpool crown court on 3rd June 2013.
They do say the truth is often stranger than fiction and it does indeed seem like the lives of these Coronation Street actors are more dramatic off screen than they are on it.