Micheal Ward, the BAFTA-winning British star of “Top Boy” and “Eddington,” has been found not guilty of rape and sexual assault in a London court.
The 28-year-old was accused of raping a woman in the back of a car after meeting her outside a New Year’s party in London in January 2023.
Ward had denied two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault. On Friday, the jury unanimously found him not guilty of all charges.
According to Sky News, Ward’s solicitor Humzah Ilyas spoke outside the court and described how the case had had a “profound impact” on the actor, who won a BAFTA Rising Star award in 2020.
“Micheal Ward is enormously grateful to the members of the jury for taking the time to examine the evidence in this case with such care. As he maintained throughout this case, this was a consensual sexual encounter. The jury agreed and cleared him of all wrongdoing,” Ilyas said in a statement.
