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Coronation Street star facing rape charged

Updated: The longest-serving cast member on Coronation Street has been charged on two counts of rape dating back to 1967.

2013-05-02_0107Coronation Street actor Bill Roache has been arrested on suspicion of two counts of rape.

Roache, 81, who plays Ken Barlow in the UK soap, was arrested on Wednesday morning on suspicion of offences involving a 15-year-old girl in 1967. He is the longest-serving cast member on Coronation Street, having appeared in its first episode in 1960.

Detectives searched the actor’s house in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and took him to be interviewed at an undisclosed police station in Lancashire.

The alleged offences are said to have taken place between April and July 1967, seven years after he began working on the TV soap. He was married to his first wife Anna at the time.

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: “An 81-year-old man from Wilmslow in Cheshire has this morning, Wednesday May 1 2013, been arrested by Lancashire Constabulary on suspicion of rape.

“The man will be interviewed at a police station in Lancashire during the course of the day.”

It is understood that Roache will not be appearing on the soap in the near future following his arrest, posing a complex challenge for producers to edit his character out of several current storylines.

An ITV spokesman said: “Given that a police investigation is under way, it would not be appropriate for us to comment.”

The actor was forced to apologise last month after claiming that the victims of sexual abuse bring it upon themselves.

Update: Roache was last night charged with raping a schoolgirl more than 45 years ago and will face court later this month.

Source: The Guardian, Standard

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