Actor Micheal Ward denies rape and sexual assault allegations

A court has heard that award-winning actor Micheal Ward allegedly raped and sexually assaulted a woman shortly after meeting her in a bar in London in 2023.

The 28-year-old actor - known for his starring roles in the film Blue Story and Netflix series Top Boy - is accused of carrying out the alleged attack in a car.

In a police interview played to jurors on the first day of his trial at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Monday, the woman said she felt "numb" and "scared" during the alleged assaults, adding that she remembered "wanting it all to be over".

He denies two charges of rape and three counts of sexual assault, and has said all sexual activity between the pair was consensual.

The alleged victim said she met the actor at a party at a nightclub in north-east London. Jurors were told she knew Ward had been in films and on TV and felt flattered when he asked for her Snapchat handle.

She was asked to accompany him to his friend's Mercedes, where they kissed and the woman consented to him touching her intimately, the trial heard.

The court heard the actor then invited the woman and her friends to an afterparty at a different location. It was in a car near that second party where it's claimed the actor raped and sexually assaulted the woman.

In her police interview, the alleged victim said: "I tried to leave the vehicle and he told me to close the door."

After being arrested, Ward - who appeared in court on Monday in a blue shirt and burgundy tie - told police in a statement: "I deny the allegation of rape. I want to put on record that we had consensual foreplay and consensual sex."

The Jamaican-born and London-raised actor won Bafta's Rising Star award in 2020 after making his name by playing gang leader and drug dealer Jamie in crime series Top Boy and Marco in Blue Story, a story of rivalry on south London's streets.

The trial continues.