Bruno Langley molested two girls at a music event last month because he felt the need to prove his sexuality after playing a gay character on ‘Coronation Street’ for 16 years.
The 34-year-old actor – who pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault in court yesterday (28.11.17) – has claimed the stress of portraying Todd Grimshaw in the soap, which he has since been sacked from, was a factor in his shocking behaviour.
His lawyer Simon Hancock said: "It was completely out of character. Something happened that night, most possibly in relation to the character he was playing."
A friend of Bruno’s added to The Sun newspaper after the case had concluded: "Bruno played a high-profile gay character for 16 years.
"People often think he’s gay in real life. He sometimes feels he needs to act more of a lad than he is to stop assumptions about his sexuality."
Bruno was slapped with a 12-month community order, ordered to sign the sex offenders’ register for five years and pay £500 in compensation after he admitted to groping two women – one in her 30s and another in her 20s – at the music event Band on the Wall in Manchester’s Northern Quarter on September 30.
The star pleaded guilty after the judge heard how he grabbed his first victim by her crotch after she collected her coat from the cloakroom at around 1am at the festival.
The victim told police that she thought about hitting the actor after he groped her over her clothes but she was too "shocked and angry" to act on her emotions and, in turn, asked Bruno whether he "did that on purpose?", before reporting the incident to police.
The second victim told police that she too had been "forcefully touched" in an "intimate place" by the star "for a couple of seconds" before she managed to push him off.
The community order subjects Bruno to 40 days of rehabilitation and a 12-week electronically monitored curfew after he admitted that he had a problem with alcohol.
Judge Hadfield told the court that she doubts Bruno will work in showbiz again.
Bruno Langley blames Corrie for sexual assault
