'Top Boy' Star Michael Ward Gets Emotional As He's Acquitted in Rape Case

Michael Ward, the 28-year-old actor who plays ambitious gang leader Jamie Tovell on the British crime series Top Boy, has been acquitted of rape and sexual assault.

Ward was initially charged after the incident in 2023, when he and a woman he met at a New Year’s Eve Party, and he says, had consensual sex in the back of a Mercedes.

“We had a mutual attraction with each other. We engaged in consensual sex, had a great time, and she was actively participating in what we were doing all the time,” he testified in court.

They exchanged contact information, and after the party, she messaged the actor, and they met and kissed in one car, then got into the other, where they had sex.

He says he invited her into the car after they flirted at the party and that she never indicated they weren’t on the same page. She testified that while they kissed in the first car, she did not consent to sex in the second.

Ward’s defense centered on her admitted attraction to him before the party, several discrepancies in her testimony, and multiple deleted texts where she messaged him, including after they had sex. She testified that those messages were before she came to terms with what “actually happened.”

The alleged victim did order STI testing on the way home from the party, checking the box saying she’d been sexually assaulted. At trial, she said definitively that she was raped, although she “never said no.”

Ward says he was “shocked” to be arrested upon his return to Italy, where he was shooting a film.

“I knew that I had not done anything wrong and wanted to get to the bottom of it.”

Ward was dropped by his U.K. management company after the charges were filed. He is still repped by CAA in the United States.

Aside from his role in Top Boy, with British rapper Kano, Ward starred in several other projects, including Empire of Light, Blue Story, The Old Guard, and Eddington. He was nominated for a BAFTA for Empire of Light and won the BAFTA Rising Star Award in 2020.

When the verdict was reached, Ward burst into tears in front of his family and loved ones, who were there to support him.

Ward’s lawyer, Humzah Ilyas, said in a statement: “Michael Ward is enormously grateful to the members of the jury for taking the time to examine the evidence in this case with such care. As he maintained throughout this case, this was a consensual sexual encounter. The jury agreed and cleared him of all wrongdoing.

“It has been three and a half years since the police started investigating this matter, during which time Michael’s life, as well as his successful career, has been put on hold. This has, inevitably, had a profound impact on him and those closest to him.

“Michael is thankful this process has now reached a conclusion. He looks forward to getting back to the work he loves and focusing on the future.”

See social media’s reaction to the case closing below.