{"id":543355,"date":"2026-07-10T21:11:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-10T21:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/543355\/"},"modified":"2026-07-10T21:11:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T21:11:08","slug":"top-boy-actor-micheal-ward-speaks-of-compassion-after-being-found-not-guilty-of-rape-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/543355\/","title":{"rendered":"Top Boy actor Micheal Ward speaks of compassion after being found not guilty of rape \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Actor Michael Ward spoke of having compassion for sex abuse victims and his hope to rebuild his life after a UK<\/a> jury cleared him of rape.<\/p>\n

The rape charges have had \u201ca profound impact on him and those closest to him\u201d, according to the Bafta-winning star \u2013 who has not been able to work since a consensual sexual encounter in 2023 threw his life into turmoil.<\/p>\n

On Friday a jury, sitting at east London<\/a>\u2019s Snaresbrook crown court, took five hours and 25 minutes to unanimously find him not guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault against the woman on January 2nd, 2023.<\/p>\n

Ward (28) denied assaulting the woman in the back of his friend\u2019s Mercedes, saying their encounter had been consensual and they were \u201chaving a great time\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ward appeared emotional as he stood next to his solicitor who read a statement after the verdicts.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside court, Humzah Ilyas, of Hickman & Rose, said: \u201cIt has been three and a half years since the police started investigating this matter, during which time Micheal\u2019s life, as well as his successful career, has been put on hold. This has, inevitably, had a profound impact on him and those closest to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ward stood quietly in the dock and held his hand to his mouth as the jury foreman slowly announced he was not guilty to each of the charges.<\/p>\n

Supporters in the public gallery, which had been packed with family and friends during every day of the trial, held back tears as the verdicts were announced.<\/p>\n

Ward then burst in to tears and leaned heavily on his defence lawyer as she helped him out of the courtroom.<\/p>\n

Ward\u2019s accuser had told the trial she felt \u201cnumb\u201d and \u201cscared\u201d and that \u201cI didn\u2019t really feel like I had a choice\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ward found fame with a breakout role in the critically acclaimed Top Boy drama series, won the Bafta rising star honour in 2020 and grafted to gain big screen success alongside star names.<\/p>\n

Ward, of Silvertown, east London, met his accuser who was with her friends outside the \u201call-white\u201d party for around 250 people in Gants Hill, east London.<\/p>\n

He had enjoyed Christmas with his close-knit family and the celebration was during a break in his busy schedule which included work in Italy and promotion for his soon-to-be released film.<\/p>\n

Ward told the court he and the woman flirted, had foreplay, enjoyed \u201cpassionate\u201d kisses and that an intimate act between them would not have happened if she did not want it.<\/p>\n

She was confident and \u201cvery cute\u201d he said, adding: \u201cWe had a mutual attraction with each other. We engaged in consensual sex, had a great time and she was actively participating in what we were doing all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the party ended, he unexpectedly got a message from her saying she was waiting by a car.<\/p>\n

The court heard the pair kissed and hugged in a Mercedes outside the party, and later had an intimate encounter in another Mercedes outside an after-party event.<\/p>\n

He asked her to go into the back seat which she did.<\/p>\n

The car door was unlocked, she gave no indication she wanted to leave as they kissed again and became involved in a \u201cdeveloping situation\u201d, Ward said.<\/p>\n

He also told the court: \u201cI really feel that she wanted to be there. She never mentioned anything about wanting to leave.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he did not force her and they kissed, hugged, had a conversation before she left.<\/p>\n

Before the woman went to the party, she Googled Ward and sent those pictures to her friend, the court heard.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC noted the woman admitted she thinks Ward is \u201cattractive\u201d, and \u201cdoes not deny that what happened in the first car was consensual\u201d.<\/p>\n

The prosecution\u2019s case was that Ward was \u201cbent that night on having sex with her come what may\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ward said he had wanted to see her again, but their contact fizzled out and his busy schedule took over.<\/p>\n

Ward said he was \u201cshocked\u201d when he was arrested at the airport as he returned from Italy, adding: \u201cI knew that I had not done anything wrong and wanted to get the bottom of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Defence counsel Sallie Bennett-Jenkins told the jury: \u201cThe woman has bluntly not been consistent and has told a series of lies that go to the heart of this matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has told them to the police and she has told them to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

It took 18 months from her original interview with police before the woman reported having deleted parts of messages with Ward and it came to light as investigators asked her friends for screenshots of their chats, the court heard.<\/p>\n

The woman said she had blood on her clothing, but tests found nothing and she \u201cflipped one way and then the other\u201d about whether there had been flirting.<\/p>\n

Bennett-Jenkins told the jury: \u201cThere are three, at the very least, significant areas where the woman can be demonstrated not to have told the truth.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs that a witness upon who you can rely? I suggest not.\u201d<\/p>\n

A string of character witnesses also told the court that Ward was \u201chonest and trustworthy\u201d. \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Actor Michael Ward spoke of having compassion for sex abuse victims and his hope to rebuild his life…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,99,303],"class_list":["post-543355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-london","tag-united-kingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}