‘Coronation Street’ actor Le Vell to face child sex trial

Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell will stand trial in September after being accused of child sex offences.

The 48-year-old, who has played mechanic Kevin Webster in the soap for the past 30 years, made his first appearance at Manchester Crown Court under his real name of Michael Turner.

The star is charged with 19 offences including six counts of raping a child, six allegations of indecently assaulting a child, and seven counts of sexual activity with a child.

The alleged offences relate to one complainant and all took place between 2001 and 2010.

During a preliminary hearing, which lasted about 10 minutes, Le Vell spoke only to confirm his name. Six members of his family sat in the public gallery of the packed courtroom.

The father of two has not yet entered a plea but has stated publicly that he is innocent and will fight the allegations through the courts.

Prosecutor Eleanor Laws told Judge Michael Henshell a plea hearing will take place on May 17, followed by a trial lasting two to three weeks, starting on Sept 2.

Alisdair Williamson, defending, asked for an earlier trial date, saying: “Mr Turner has had this hanging over his head for 18 months.”

But Judge Henshell said the September date should be fixed and granted the actor bail until the plea hearing, at the same court, in May.

Asked by the judge if he understood, Le Vell nodded and said “thank you”, before leaving the dock.

As he left court, the star smiled at photographers and camera crews and joked: “It’s an early finish for you lot, innit?”

Le Vell was bailed on condition that he surrender his passport, does not contact witnesses, and does not have unsupervised contact with any child under 14.

ITV has said he will not be appearing in any further episodes of the soap pending the outcome of legal proceedings.