Top Boy actor Micheal Ward cleared of rape

Bafta-winning actor Micheal Ward has been cleared of raping a woman in the back of a Mercedes after meeting her outside a New Year’s party.

The 28-year-old star denied attacking the woman in her friend’s car in 2023, saying their encounter was consensual and they “had a great time.”

The woman told Ward’s hearing at Snaresbrook Crown Court that she felt “numb” and “scared”, “wanted it all to be over” and remembered “not feeling like I really had a choice”.

On Friday, the jury unanimously found Ward not guilty of two counts of rape, two counts of rape and one count of sexual assault against the woman on Jan. 2, 2023.

The court heard Ward came from humble beginnings in London’s east end and grew up in an all-female family after his father died in a car crash when he was two.

She rose to fame with her breakout role in the critically acclaimed drama series Top Boy, won the Bafta rising star award in 2020 and has been indoctrinated to achieve success on the big screen alongside star names.

Ward, of Silvertown, east London, met the accuser, who was with friends, outside the “all-white” party of around 250 people in Gants Hill, east London.

He had spent Christmas with his close-knit family, and the celebration took place during a break from his busy schedule, which included work in Italy and promotion of his upcoming film.

Ward told the court he and the woman flirted, engaged in foreplay, enjoyed “passionate” kisses and that an intimate relationship would not have occurred between them had he not asked for it.

She described him as confident and “very sweet,” adding: “We had a mutual attraction to each other. We had consensual sex, had a great time, and he was always actively participating in what we were doing.”

Ward recalled having a “fairly flirty” conversation with the woman, who admitted she was flattered when she asked for her Snapchat details.

“I could tell from the eye contact and the way he spoke that there was interest there,” Ward told the jury.

She thought she saw him “once or twice” at the party and got a “great vibe” from him thanks to the “nice” and “flirty” conversation they had.

When the party ended, she unexpectedly received a text from him saying he was waiting by a car.

The court heard the couple kissed and hugged in a Mercedes outside the party and later had an intimate encounter in another Mercedes outside an after-party event.

He asked her to get in the back seat, which she did.

Ward said the car door was unlocked and she gave no indication that she wanted to leave when they kissed again and became involved in a “developing situation.”

He also told the court: “I feel like he really wants to be there. He hasn’t mentioned anything about wanting to leave.”

Recalling that the woman’s friends said she was expecting, Ward added: “Everything was progressing naturally and warmly, and we were enjoying it.”

He said he didn’t force her and they kissed, hugged and chatted before leaving.

The court heard the woman googled before heading to the party and sent the photos to her friend.

Prosecutor Tracy Ayling KC said the woman admitted she found Ward “attractive” and “did not deny that what happened in the first car was consensual”.

The prosecution’s claim was that Ward was “determined to have sex with her no matter what that night” and suggested that if this had not happened she would have had no motivation to say she had been raped.

His friends broke down in tears as they recalled in court that his “behavior was poor” when he got into the car for the journey home and that he ordered an STI kit on the way back.

The woman said she exchanged friendly messages with Ward following the incident because she “couldn’t fully accept what had happened to her.”

Ward said she wanted to see him again, but their communication fell out and his busy schedule came into play.

Ward said he was “shocked” when he was arrested at the airport on his way back from Italy, adding: “I knew I had done nothing wrong and I wanted to get to the bottom of it.”

Defense barrister Sallie Bennett-Jenkins KC told the jury: “The woman clearly failed to act consistently and told a series of lies that went to the heart of this matter.

“He told them to the police and he told you too.”

The court heard it took 18 months after the woman first contacted police to report deleting some of the messages with Ward, which came to light after investigators asked friends for screenshots of their chats.

KC said there was blood on the woman’s dress, but tests found nothing and “she went back and forth” on whether it was dating or not.

Miss Bennett-Jenkins told the jury: “There are at least three important areas where it can be proven that the woman was not telling the truth.

“Is this a witness you can trust? I suggest you don’t.”