Former Coronation Street star Andrew Lancel was cleared of indecently assaulting a teenage boy today in court. The jury took 29 minutes to clear the actor of all counts.
Lancel, who formerly played Frank Foster in Corrie, was accused of four counts of sexual assault against a minor dating to 1994 when the victim was aged 15, according to the Mirror.
Charged last November, Lancel stood trial under his real name Andrew Watkinson and denied there was any “intimate contact” with his accuser or wrongdoing.
However, Judge Clement Goldstone added: “The defendant was acquitted on the evidence, and rightly so, but it is important that the complainant who is clearly scarred by an experience, should understand that the jury verdicts does not necessarily involve rejection of his account of a sexual encounter or encounters with the defendant.”
“It is a statement that the prosecution have failed to make the jury sure that abuse of the type alleged occurred during the period covered by the indictment and in particular before the complainant’s 16th birthday, now more than 18 years ago.”
Lancel refused to comment about the case to the press after he walked free.
