EX-EMMERDALE STAR ADMITS 'BAD CHOICES' AFTER RAPE CASE

EX-EMMERDALE STAR ADMITS 'BAD CHOICES' AFTER RAPE CASE

Former Emmerdale actor Ben Freeman has admitted he made 'bad choices' after being cleared of raping a 16-year-old British girl in Barbados.

Freeman, 28, was accused of raping the girl after they met at a holiday resort on the Caribbean island in November 2006 but was cleared on Friday after a Bridgetown jury took a little over an hour to reach a not guilty verdict.

"I'm not particularly angry at the girl and her family. I don't feel any kind of need for retribution," he said on ITV's This Morning on Monday.

"I made a lot of bad choices that put myself in a situation where someone could say that about me."

He continued: "My mission for the last two years was to clear my name.

"Now that's over and I really can look forward. I would obviously really like to get back to work. Whatever work that is.

"I haven't really spoken to anyone at Emmerdale and I don't know if they would even consider taking me back, but I would think about it if they wanted to have a talk."

Regarding a return to Emmerdale, a spokesperson for the show said: "This is good news for Ben so he can now put this behind him.

"There is nothing in place at the moment between Ben and his agent with our producer. But now that this situation is over we would be happy to meet with him on his return to the UK. "

The actor, who played Scott Windsor in the ITV soap, admitted he knew the age of the teenage girl from Cheshire but claimed she never resisted his advances and denied all the charges at the high court in Bridgetown.

He said they first kissed one evening after swimming in the hotel's pool and had sex on a sun lounger. He maintained she never asked him to stop and believes she may have concocted the story due to her age.

"Whatever made that decision, I think it was tough to then undo. And I think things happened so quickly I think there was a kind of snowball effect," he went on.

"I think someone who is young and possibly quite naive was unable to get out of the situation that she had put herself in."