Star Roache ‘attacked gullible kid’

A WOMAN who claims she was raped as a teenager by Coronation Street star William Roache went to police after seeing him talking about his love life in a TV interview, a court heard.

The alleged victim spoke about the actor’s appearance on Piers Morgan’s Life Stories when she was interviewed by detectives for the first time.

She said she was a “gullible kid” who was raped on two different occasions in 1967 at the actor’s then home in Lancashire – the first time when she was aged 15.

Jurors at Preston Crown Court were played a video recording of the police interview she gave last March.

Describing why she had decided to make a formal complaint after staying silent for more than 40 years, she referred to the ITV1 broadcast. “He was talking about the number of women in his life,” she said. “He was quite amused by it all. It made my skin crawl to be honest.”

Her complaint led to Roache being charged last May with two counts of rape. The publicity that followed led to four other women alleging he had sexually assaulted them.

Opening her cross-examination, Louise Blackwell QC, defending, told the witness: “All the questions I am putting to you are on the basis that neither of these events happened, just so you understand.”

Roache, 81, of Cheshire, denies the charges against him. The trial continues.