Ken Barlow actor Bill Roache under fire after telling Kiwi magazine that paedophile victims 'did wrong in previous lives'

It was during a discussion with New Zealand's One News in which he discussed the recent posthumous scandal surrounding Jimmy Savile and various celebrites accused of abuse, that Roache made controversial statements.

Corrie star Roache, who holds the record for the world's longest-serving television actor and is a keen astrologer, has been criticised for suggesting victims of abuse had somehow done something wrong in 'previous lives' which he appeared to suggest had lead to their abuse.

"To some people that sounds perhaps like you're saying victims bring things on themselves - is that what you're saying?" asked interviewer Garth Bray.

"No, not quite, but and yet I am, because everything that happens to us has been a result of what we have been in previous lives or whatever."

"Paedophilia is absolutely horrendous. Paedophiles should be sought out, rooted out and dealt with," Roache went on to say.

"But there's a fringe of people who, particularly pop singers, they have these groupies, these girls, who come, they're sexually active, sexually mature, they don't ask for their birth certificate, they don't know what age they may be."

Dr Jon Bird from the National Association for People Abused in Childhood told Herald Scotland:"This is a real insult, it is horrible. I think a lot of people will be deeply offended by what he said."


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