Ken Barlow waxwork defaced at Madame Tussauds

Bill Roache with his waxwork likeness from Madame Tussauds. Photo/AP

A waxwork of Coronation Street's Ken Barlow has been removed from display at Madame Tussauds after being attacked.

It used to sit in a mock-up of the Rovers Return pub opposite his on-off wife Deirdre.

But bosses at Tussauds in Blackpool took away their Ken Barlow figure following a number of attacks, 'inappropriate pictures' and complaints from customers about its presence.

Bill Roache, 81, the actor who has played Barlow in the ITV soap since 1960, is on bail after being charged with two counts of raping a 15-year-old girl in 1967.

He has pledged to fight the claims but ITV officials have suspended him from the show until any trial ends.

A spokesman for Tussauds said it was not making moral judgments but had removed the waxwork so it did not get damaged because they cost £150,000 each.