Bafta-winning actor Michael Ward has been found not guilty of rape and sexual assault after a jury unanimously cleared him following a trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court.
The 28-year-old Top Boy star had denied two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault relating to an encounter with a woman after a New Year’s party in east London in January 2023.
On Friday, jurors returned unanimous not guilty verdicts on all five charges after deliberating for five hours and 25 minutes.
Ward stood quietly in the dock with his hand covering his mouth as each verdict was read aloud before breaking down in tears.
He then leaned on his defence barrister as he left the courtroom, while members of his family and friends in the public gallery became emotional.
The prosecution alleged Ward sexually assaulted the woman in the back of a Mercedes after the pair met outside an “all-white” New Year’s party in Gants Hill on January 2, 2023.
Ward denied the allegations throughout the trial, maintaining the encounter was consensual.
Giving evidence in his own defence, the actor told jurors the pair had flirted throughout the evening before exchanging Snapchat details and later meeting outside the venue.
He said they kissed, hugged and engaged in consensual sexual activity, describing the encounter as one in which they were ‘having a great time’.
‘I really feel that she wanted to be there,’ Ward told the court. ‘She never mentioned anything about wanting to leave.’
He also said he believed there was a ‘mutual attraction’ between them and that the intimate encounter would not have happened had she not wanted it.
The prosecution argued Ward had been determined to have sex with the woman regardless of her wishes and suggested she had no reason to falsely report rape.
Jurors also heard evidence from the woman’s friends, who described her as appearing distressed after returning to their car following the incident.
The defence, meanwhile, challenged the reliability of the complainant’s account.
Ward’s barrister, Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC, argued there were significant inconsistencies in her evidence and said she had not been truthful about key aspects of the case.
The court heard that deleted messages between the complainant and Ward only came to light around 18 months after her initial police interview, while the defence also challenged other parts of her evidence, including her account of events before and after the encounter.
Ward told jurors he had been ‘shocked’ when he was arrested on returning to the UK from Italy, adding that he knew he ‘had not done anything wrong’.
The actor, who grew up in east London after his father died when he was two years old, rose to prominence through Top Boy before winning the Bafta Rising Star Award in 2020.
Since then, he has become one of Britain’s most successful young actors, appearing in films including Empire of Light and Eddington. Following the unanimous verdicts, Ward was acquitted of all charges.