Actor Roache ‘not looking for gratuitious sex’

Roache, 81, gave evidence at Preston Crown Court yesterday and told the jury he had cheated on wife Anna Cropper with “a series of relationships” in the mid-to-late 1960s at a time when he is alleged to have committed two rapes and four indecent assaults.

The offences involving the five complainants aged 16 and under, which he denies, are said to have taken place on various dates between 1965 and 1971, with the assaults alleged to have been committed at his bungalow in Lancashire, in the gents toilets at Granada, in his Rolls-Royce, and in his dressing room.

Prosecutor Anne Whyte QC put it to Roache, who plays Ken Barlow in the ITV soap, he had quickly became the “heart throb” of Coronation Street but he denied her suggestion this caused him to believe he was “beyond sexual scrutiny”.

“No, I’m sorry I was always very caring, always honest, even in the relationships I went into,” Roache said. “I was not interested in gratuitous sex and certainly not with underage people.”

Questioned about an allegation from a woman that he assaulted her in the toilets at Granada when she was 14, Roache said: “I absolutely and categorically have to deny it. I have no interest at all in sexual immaturity.”

Asked about why a married man in his 30s would have sent her a signed photo and a letter, he said it was just an example of “friendly” fan mail which he encouraged as there was rivalry amongst the cast as to who got the most.

He also told the court the idea he would take underage girls in his car, where people could see him and “everyone” knew who he was, and carry out such an assault while driving was “absolutely ridiculous.” And he denied having had a desire for sexual favours from girls. “No it did not happen, definitely not,” he said.

The trial continues.