Micheal Ward Acquitted of Rape & Sexual Assault
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- Micheal Ward was found not guilty of rape and sexual assault by a jury at Snaresbrook Crown Court in east London, ending a trial stemming from allegations he raped a woman in the back of a Mercedes after meeting her at a New Year's party in January 2023.
- Ward told the court "Everything we did was wholly consensual" throughout the proceedings.
- Ward was formally charged in July 2025 and granted bail in August 2025; at the time he denied the accusations and said he was fully cooperating with police.
- Ward first earned widespread recognition playing Jamie opposite Kano and Ashley Walters in Netflix's Top Boy, and went on to star in Blue Story, The Old Guard, Empire of Light, and Steve McQueen's Small Axe.
- Ward's 2020 BAFTA EE Rising Star Award adds to a filmography that most recently included Ari Aster's Eddington, which debuted at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival.
- Olivia Bell Management dropped Ward as a UK client following last year's accusation, though he continues to be repped in the U.S. by CAA.
Why it matters: The acquittal ends a criminal proceeding that had already carried professional consequences for Ward — UK agency Olivia Bell Management dropped him after the accusation, leaving him represented only by U.S. agency CAA. The jury accepted his account that the encounter was consensual, closing a legal chapter that had shadowed his career since the January 2023 alleged incident and clearing him to resume work without the prospect of a custodial sentence.
