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| Bill Roache arrested on suspicion of raping girl in 1967 | |
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| Coronation Street actor Bill Roache has been arrested on suspicion of two counts of rape. | Coronation Street actor Bill Roache has been arrested on suspicion of two counts of rape. |
| Roache, 81, who plays Ken Barlow in the ITV1 soap, was arrested by Lancashire constabulary on Wednesday morning on suspicion of offences involving a 15-year-old girl in 1967. | Roache, 81, who plays Ken Barlow in the ITV1 soap, was arrested by Lancashire constabulary on Wednesday morning on suspicion of offences involving a 15-year-old girl in 1967. |
| Detectives searched the actor's house in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and took him to be interviewed at an undisclosed police station in Lancashire. | Detectives searched the actor's house in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and took him to be interviewed at an undisclosed police station in Lancashire. |
| In a statement, Lancashire constabulary said the offences are alleged to have been committed in Haslingden between April and July 1967 and involved a girl then aged 15. | In a statement, Lancashire constabulary said the offences are alleged to have been committed in Haslingden between April and July 1967 and involved a girl then aged 15. |
| The force added: "We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse, or anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge they will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity." | The force added: "We take all allegations of sexual abuse extremely seriously and would encourage people with any information about sexual abuse, or anyone who has been a victim of sexual abuse, to come forward and report their concerns confident in the knowledge they will be investigated appropriately and with sensitivity." |
| Lancashire police declined to confirm the name of the arrested suspect, saying only that he is an 81-year-old man. | |
| However, sources outside Roache's home in Wilmslow confirmed that he had been arrested on Wednesday morning. An ITV producer was outside Roache's home as police detectives searched the property. | |
| Roache is the longest-serving cast member on Coronation Street, having appeared in its first episode on 9 December 1960. | |
| It is understood that Roache will not be appearing on the soap in the near future following his arrest, posing a complex challenge for producers to edit his character out of several current storylines. | |
| An ITV spokesman said: "Given that a police investigation is underway, it would not be appropriate for us to comment." | |
| In March, Roache apologised after he appeared to suggest victims of sex crimes were being punished for past sins. | |
| He told New Zealand's One News TV show that, "if you accept that you are pure love, and if you know that you are pure love … these things won't happen to you". | |
| Asked to clarify if that meant "victims bring things on themselves", Roache added: "No, not quite, but and yet I am … everything that happens to us has been a result of what we have been in previous lives." | |
| He later said he was "very sorry for any offence that has been caused as a result of my comments". | |
| Roache's wife, Sara, died in 2009 after more than 30 years married to the Coronation Street actor. The pair have two grown-up children. | |
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