CORONATION Street star William Roache was called a ‘cockroach’ by a fellow cast member, a court heard.

And one of his alleged sex assault victims was warned by Peter Adamson, who played Len Fairclough in the soap, that he would ‘lead you astray’, the jury heard.

The witness claims Roache indecently assaulted her when she was about 14 after he arranged passes for herself and her younger sister on a visit to Granada Studios in Manchester.

She told the jury at Preston Crown Court last week that Roache groped her in a room after being led past the Rovers Return pub on the set.

Yesterday, she was cross-examined by the defendant's lawyer, Louise Blackwell QC, and claimed that Mr Adamson made the ‘cockroach’ remark about the actor while she was at the studios.

She said: “It was Len Fairclough that made the comment because when he said it, he looked directly at him and he looked at us and said, 'You want to keep your eye on him. He will lead you astray' and he called him 'cockroach'.

"He called him a cockroach with a capital C."

Roache, 81, of Wilmslow, Cheshire, denies two counts of rapes, involving an East Lancashire woman, and five counts of indecent assault involving five complainants aged 16 and under on dates between 1965 and 1971.

The court heard the alleged victim and her sister would sit on the steps outside the studio in the summer holidays in the mid to late 1960s, along with other autograph-hunting youngsters.

But on one occasion after being invited inside the studios, Roache, who has played Ken Barlow in the ITV soap for more than 50 years, took her to his dressing room and indecently assaulted.

She told police: "He was like an octopus - hands everywhere."

Challenged about her account of what happened by Miss Blackwell, the witness told the court: "It happened, no matter what you are saying or what your job is, it happened. I have no reason to lie, no reason in the world."

The witness said she felt the incident had been her fault ‘for being there in the first place’.

Her sister claims she was abused by Roache on a separate occasion.

The witness was asked by Miss Blackwell about press interest in her story and reporters visiting her house.

She said her sister had ‘two visits from the Mirror’ and had been offered £25,000 for her story.

The witness added she was visited once by a reporter from The Sun, but the only money mentioned was a donation of an undisclosed amount to a charity.

"I know what's going through your mind," she told Miss Blackwell, "and it's not going to happen, because I did not want money.

"If I wanted money I could've sold my story but I have not sold my story. I have spoken to nobody except those who should know."

As the cross-examination continued the witness agreed she sometimes got times and dates wrong, but maintained she was telling the truth.

She said: “I feel as if I am on trial here. I have done nothing wrong here, it's Mr Barlow, Ken Barlow that's done it.”