Soap actor cleared of rape charge

The actor was found not guilty on the jury's unanimous verdict

Emmerdale actor Ben Freeman has been cleared of raping a 16-year-old British girl in Barbados.

The actor, who played mechanic Scott Windsor in the ITV1 soap, was accused of raping the girl after they met on the Caribbean island in 2006.

The actor, 28, - who had denied the charge - admitted he and the 16-year-old girl, from Cheshire, had had sex, but she did not resist his advances.

The jury in Bridgetown took 90 minutes to unanimously acquit him.

Outside the court, with his friends and family, including his father Paul, the star said: "I'm grateful to be vindicated by the jury's verdict and am looking forward to spending time with my family and close friends who have been enormously supportive to me over the past two years."

Mr Freeman was accused of raping the girl on a poolside sunlounger while they were staying with their families at the same hotel in Barbados two years ago.

'Dreadful lie'

He said they first began kissing one evening after fooling around in the hotel pool and then went on to have sex on a nearby lounger.

He denied she had ever asked him to stop.

Anesta Weekes QC, defending Freeman, said the girl's own evidence showed the sex was consensual and the girl "made the dreadful choice to lie" when her parents "had beaten her up" for it.

Ms Weekes said the alleged victim's evidence in court contradicted what she had told police and magistrates in previous statements, even when it came to being attracted to Freeman.

"On such a simple point she is unable to be straightforward, frank and consistent," she said.

Ms Weekes added that although the two were interrupted three times, the girl did not raise the alarm.

"It would be a travesty of justice to convict my client on this kind of evidence," she said.