Corrie’s Ken Barlow cleared in sex assaults

Beloved Coronation Street star William Roache was cleared Thursday of committing a series of sex assaults on young women 40 years ago.

The jury at Preston Crown Court found the 81-year-old Roache — who has played doddering Ken Barlow on the show for more than 50 years — not guilty of four counts of indecent assault and two counts of rape.

The offences were alleged to have taken place in the 1960s and 1970s against five young women under the age of 16.

Prosecutors argued that Roache took advantage of his growing fame to sexually ravish star-struck young girls — and then threatened them to keep his lurid secrets.

But Roache denied he ever even met the women accusing him.

Outside the court, the elated actor told reporters: “In these situations there are no winners ... we should be much kinder to ourselves.”

He then added: “If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to work.”

Roache has been suspended from Coronation Street pending the outcome of his three-week trial.

His wife and children, who had accompanied him to court throughout the trial, cried with relief as the verdicts were read out.

His Coronation Street costars were quick to celebrate the verdict. Michael Le Vell — who plays mechanic Kevin Webster — had just months before endured a similar ordeal.

He too was cleared of a number of sex charges. Le Vell said he was “absolutely delighted for William Roache.” Both actors were temporarily written out of the series until their names were cleared.

Sherrie Hewson — who played Maureen Webster — and is a close friend of Roache told the Daily Mail: “It’s made me really well up. It’s just that we’ve all backed him for so long and I just thank God for this day.”

A third Coronation Street actor, Andrew Lancel, who had played Frank Foster in the soap, was cleared of historic sex offences last June.