Roache denies sex offences from witness box

Coronation Street star William Roache has told a jury he did not commit any sex offences.

The 81-year-old actor swore on the Bible as he was called to give evidence from the witness box at Preston Crown Court.

Louise Blackwell QC, defending, asked Roache: “Have you committed any of the offences with which you have been charged?”

“No I have not,” Roache replied.

Miss Blackwell continued: “Do you have any memory of being in the company of any of the people that have made the allegations against you?”

“No, not one of them,” Roache replied.

“Do you know any of them in any way?” Miss Blackwell said.

“No,” the defendant replied.

“Or of them in any way?” Miss Blackwell continued.

“No,” he said.

Roache has pleaded not guilty to two counts of rape and four counts of indecent assault involving five complainants aged 16 and under on dates between 1965 and 1971.

Roache said he was born in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, the son of a local doctor.

His early schooling was near his home, at the Rudolph Steiner School where his grandfather had donated part of his property for its grounds.

Talking about Mr Steiner, he said: “He had an interesting philosophy about education – that school should be a place of fun. Handcrafts, dancing, painting... there was no discipline; it was not needed either.”

Speaking of the effect the school had on him, he said: “I did have an interest in things from beyond the sixth sense of the normal. Spiritual matters always remained interesting.”

He next went to a boarding school in North Wales, which he enjoyed less at the time. It had a more traditional academic focus with “cold baths in the morning”.

Roache said he was left-handed but the school made him right-handed.

He told the jury that he joined the Army after leaving school.

He was a member of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers and, in his five years of service, rose to the rank of captain, and spent two years in Oman.

In the mid-1950s he suffered an accident during live ammunition training with a mortar platoon which permanently damaged his hearing.

Roache said he felt an “obligation” to follow generations of his family who had gone into the medical profession but he was not adept at sciences.

“My mother had always been a keen amateur actress,” he said. “She used to direct the amateur dramatic society in Ilkeston.”

Roache won a drama prize as a youngster but initially felt he was too shy for acting, he said.

“But I did, at the age of 26, when I came out of the Army I thought I had to give it a go,” he said.

“It was burning away in me.”

Roache's first break on television was a lead role in Play Of The Week in 1959, he said.

Filmed at Granada Studios in Manchester, he said he had a “prestigious part” in Marking Time as a soldier who had an affair with a girl.

It caught the attention of Coronation Street author Tony Warren, who saw him perform in the studio.

“He said ’That is the person I want to play Ken Barlow’,” he said.

His barrister, Miss Blackwell, asked if Coronation Street was “a new soap”.

Roache replied: “I still don’t like the word ’soap’.”

Comparing it to the innovative kitchen sink dramas of the time, he said: “We were the first on television. It was highly prestigious, it was cutting edge. We were a drama and did it like that.”

The actor said the series, filmed in black and white, was originally only commissioned for 11 weeks and that Sidney Bernstein, the head of Granada, did not believe it would work.

Roache began giving evidence at 10.13am, giving his date of birth and full name as William Patrick Roache.

Miss Blackwell, dealing with “preliminary matters” before questions began, asked Roache about his hearing difficulties.

“It’s not an age thing,” he told the jury.

“It happened when I was in the Army, when I was 21 – a mortar bomb exploded.”

Later questions moved to Roache’s personal life at the beginning of his acting career on Coronation Street.

Roache said he had met Anna Cropper while acting in Nottingham and they got married.

“We had a little flat in Primrose Hill in London. She was an actress too, a very good actress.”

Roache said after Coronation Street launched “it went into the stratosphere, we were very highly feted”.

The cast were offered three-year contracts so he decided he also needed a home in the North and bought a cottage in Rawtenstall, Lancashire.

Later he bought two cottages and a plot of land to build a house on elsewhere in Lancashire, the court heard.

But Roache and his wife still lived between London and the North, he said.

“We did not think Coronation Street was going to run for very long and London was the best place to be,” he added.

Questions then moved to Roache's domestic arrangements at home at the time.

The jury heard his son Linus was born in February 1965 and daughter Vanya in April 1967.

The couple had a nanny to help them but they were still living between Lancashire and London.

Roache described a hectic life as an actor at Granada Studios with rehearsals, learning his lines for different plots and live performances.

He added: “It was an incredibly busy time, I remember The Beatles had their first show there and I remember Tom Jones walking around a the corner. There was always very big dramas, Brideshead Revisited and Jewel in the Crown.”

Miss Blackwell went on to explore more about his working life at the studio in the mid to late-60s - when the offences are alleged to have been committed.

He confirmed that fans would be outside the studio when the actors arrived because they knew what time they were due in.

As a junior member of the cast at the time he would always share a dressing room, he said.

The dressing rooms and studios were all on the same floor and in those days he said he looked forward to seeing famous actors such as Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.

“Call girls” would shout to him when he was needed to go on set, he said.

He said no-one apart from those working at Granada would be allowed inside the studio while filming.

Miss Blackwell asked: “Did you ever take anybody into the studio?”

Roache replied: “It was an extremely difficult and dangerous thing to do. Any noise or cough and a recording could be gone.

“Occasionally very close family, my children. You had to get permission. You had to have a reason.”

He said the same applied to his dressing room.

“I didn’t want anybody in the dressing room,” he said. “I needed to concentrate totally on lines and focus on what I needed to do.”

He added the surrounding corridors were “busy”.

“There was always activity going on,” he said.

After a 15 minute, mid-morning break, the questioning continued.

Some of the alleged indecent assaults are said to have occurred in toilets at Granada close to Roache’s dressing room after he invited “star-struck” youngsters into the studios.

Other assaults are said to have taken place in his car or at property he owned.

But the defendant said the dressing room would be locked if he was in the studio filming and the toilets in question at the studios were in “constant use”.

And Roache said members of the public were not simply allowed in via actors because of security at Granada.

“It was so much going on, so many big productions happened, including ours, that security was very strict and people were not allowed in,” Roache said.

Miss Blackwell asked: “Do you ever remember having somebody who was not a member of your family in the dressing room with you?”

“No,” Roache replied.

Miss Blackwell continued: “Do you ever remember having two young women, or girls, aged 13, 14, 15, that sort of age, who were there in relation to a talent competition?”

“No,” Roache said, “I think it highly unlikely, security was very strong.”

“I’m talking about your memory Mr Roache?” Miss Blackwell said.

“If it would have happened it would be so unusual I would have remembered it,” the defendant said.

Miss Blackwell said: “Did you ever take a girl into the toilets as described and commit an indecent assault on her?”

Roache replied: “No, definitely not. Those toilets were in constant use, constant use.”

Miss Blackwell: “When you were leaving the studio, do you remember specifically giving autographs yourself and inviting one of those people into your car?”

Roache replied: “I remember giving autographs, that was a regular feature. But no, I never gave anyone a lift in my car other than people I knew.”

Miss Blackwell: “Did you ever take the first complainant in your car?”

“No I did not,” Roache said.

Miss Blackwell: “Do you ever remember having a stranger in your car?

“No,” Roache replied.