The "courage" of the alleged sex abuse victim of Coronation Street actor Michael Le Vell must be marked by guilty verdicts if she was telling the truth, jurors were told today.
His accuser had no reason to lie and the only explanation for her allegations was that it was the “uncomfortable truth”, the court heard.
Delivering her closing speech, prosecutor Eleanor Laws QC urged the jury of eight women and four men to concentrate closely on the evidence of the alleged victim. “You saw her as bubbly, lovely, naive, so lovely,” she said. “She was not twisted.”
The actor, who has played garage mechanic Kevin Webster in the ITV1 soap for 30 years, is being tried under his real name Michael Turner at Manchester Crown Court.
He is accused of sexually assaulting and raping a young girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
Le Vell (48) denies five counts of rape, three of indecent assault, two counts of sexual activity with a child, and two of causing a child to engage in sexual activity.
Ms Laws asked jurors to disregard media reports, she said: “Concentrate on what you do know because you, members of the jury, actually saw (the alleged victim) give evidence. No-one else in the courtroom did apart from the judge and barristers.”
She said they may have “strong feelings” about these type of allegations. ’ “No-one likes to think that someone they liked or admired has done anything like this.” She said they may also think that it was “such an easy allegation to make” but “difficult to defend”. But crimes like this did take place and could go undetected for years, she said.
She said Le Vell had only come up with one reason for the allegations and that was revenge against him. That explanation was “absurd”, said the barrister, and “just does not hold water”.
Ms Laws went on to say that the alleged victim had had several opportunities to withdraw the allegations — including when the Crown Prosecution Service initially reviewed the case and did not press charges.
The reality was that there was no reason for her to lie, said Ms Laws. “It is absolutely the truth,” she said. “There is no other reason that holds water. “(The alleged victim) is not hellbent on revenge.”
Ms Laws said no-one could say that because the defendant was an alcoholic and had extra-marital affairs meant that he was a child abuser. But he was “a troubled man” who committed the offences when in drink, she said.
Ms Laws said: “Bear in mind what this witness has put herself through over a long period of time. “What has she got to gain from all of that? Absolutely nothing, unless it is the truth and that is what she wants to tell you. her courage from the witness box with convictions.”
Alisdair Williamson then gave the closing speech for the defence. Addressing the eight women and four men on the jury directly, he began by saying it was a “strange case of child rape” without any evidence of blood or semen 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 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.
“You are going to throw a man’s life away? You are going to cast him to the outer darkness of being a child rapist?” Mr Williamson continued. “Where is the consistency, the solidity of evidence on which you are going to be sure? “Not there, simply not there.”
He accused the girl of making “silly” or “ridiculous” details in her story that “doesn’t add up”. He added: “There’s an agonising lack of detail from this witness. “She can’t give you details because it did not happen and that’s why her story varies according to who she’s talking to.”
Mr Williamson said the defendant was a “drunk, bad husband and inadequate father” whose behaviour was sometimes “terrible”, but he is not a child rapist.
“He’s a man, a weak man, a stupid man, a drunk man, but nothing in this case has taken you anywhere near, I suggest, the level of certainty you would need so you can look in the mirror in the days that come and say ‘I was sure’.
Summing up the trial, Judge Michael Henshell said both Le Vell and the alleged victim were distressed at times as they gave evidence. But he told them: “Do not allow sympathy to cloud your judgment for either side.” Signs of distress in the witness box were not a reliable guide to the truth, he said.
He told the jury that a “late complaint” of abuse did not necessarily mean it was false, while conversely an immediate complaint was not always true. The alleged victim’s state of mind and maturity at the time of the allegations should be taken into account, while Le Vell deserved to be treated as a man of good character having not previously been arrested.
The summing up continues this afternoon.