William Roache was the subject of a "witch hunt", according to his ‘Coronation Street’ co-stars.
The 81-year-old actor was cleared of all charges in court yesterday (06.02.14) after standing trial for historic sexual abuse charges – including four counts of indecent assault and two rapes against girls under the age of 16 between 1965 and 1971 – and past Weatherfield stars have blasted prosecutors for wasting public money on the "nonsense" trial.
Ken Morley, who played Reg Holdsworth in the ITV soap, said: "Another waste of public money.
"Considering the Michael Le Vell farce, they should be careful about the waste of taxpayers’ money. We all knew it was nonsense from the outset.
"It is part of the Jimmy Savile witch hunt. This all followed the demise of the repulsive DJ from Yorkshire."
87-year-old Jean Alexander, who played Hilda Ogden for 23 years, added to The Sun newspaper: "Why did this ever come to court and leave Bill suffering for such a long time? The law needs to change to stop people making wild accusations nearly half a century on which are wrong and can destroy a person."
After being found not guilty, it’s thought William immediately spoke to ITV Granada about his return to ‘Corrie’ as Weatherfield stalwart Ken Barlow, who has appeared in the soap since its first episode in December 1960.
William – who was written out of the show in May 2013, when the charges were first brought against him – could be back on set by July and back on screens in the autumn.
Corrie stars blast ‘nonsense’ William Roache trial
