Jury considers Le Vell verdict
The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell for alleged sex offences at Manchester Crown Court. He denies all 12 charges.
The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell for alleged sex offences at Manchester Crown Court. He denies all 12 charges.
The barrister for Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell claimed the prosecution had created a "hall of mirrors" as he gave the closing speech for the defence.
Addressing the eight women and four men on the jury directly, Alisdair Williamson began by saying it was a "strange case of child rape" without any physical evidence or injuries to the alleged victim.
"Welcome to the prosecution's hall of mirrors," he told the jury. "Where up is down and left is right."
Mr Williamson also suggested the girl had given differing accounts of the frequency and details of the alleged abuse to her mother, her friends and to the police.
"Where is the consistency, the solidity of evidence on which you are going to be sure?" he asked the court. "Not there, simply not there."
The jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell for alleged sex offences.
Michael Le Vell denied he raped a young girl, telling a courtroom today: "I didn't get away with anything, I didn't abuse her."
Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell told a jury he was "fighting for his life" after being accused of child sex allegations.