Micheal Ward cleared of rape and sexual assault charges in London court

A jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London found Micheal Ward not guilty on Friday, 10 July 2026, clearing the 28-year-old actor of two counts of rape, two counts of assault by penetration and one count of sexual assault. The unanimous verdict ended a two-week trial over allegations involving one woman and an encounter that took place on 2 January 2023.

Prosecutors said Ward met the woman at a New Year’s party in Stratford, east London, before the pair later ended up in the back of a Mercedes. Ward told jurors the encounter was “wholly consensual” and that he thought they were “having a great time”; he also said, “We engaged in consensual sex, had a great time and she was actively participating in what we were doing all the time.”

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, told the court she felt “numb” and “scared”, remembered “wanting it all to be over” and said, “I didn’t really feel like I had a choice.”

Ward was charged by the Metropolitan Police on 25 July 2025 after the Crown Prosecution Service authorised the case. He appeared in Top Boy, Blue Story, Small Axe and Empire of Light, and won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2020. He sobbed in court as the verdicts were read.