HOLLYOAKS star Philip Hamer was last week jailed for 28 years after he was convinced of 41 sex offences.
The soap extra, 34, groomed one of his teenage victims on Facebook when she was just 14 years old.
Hollyoaks extra Philip Harmer has been jailed for 41 sex offences including rape[/caption]
Speaking after Hamer was jailed, his victim – now 27 – told how he would take her to his house, where he lived with his mum and stepdad, to have “rough sex”.
She said: “He’d sneak me upstairs to his bedroom where we’d have rough sex.
“Many times he’d tie my feet and hands together tightly with cable ties, leaving red marks.
“I’d tell him it hurt but he didn’t care. It was awful.”
Hamer, from Greater Manchester, was found guilty of 41 sexual offences carried out between 2010 and 2023, including eight counts of rape.
The sex offender is just one of a string of soap stars who, over the years, has been found guilty of a shocking crime.
Here, we take a look at the other shocking real life cases to rock soap land.
EastEnders killer
EastEnders actor Youssef Berouain was jailed last year for killing an England cricket star’s mum in a horrific car crash.
Berouain was travelling at double the speed limit in 2020 when his Audi Q7 struck an Uber Caroline Atkinson was travelling in.
Caroline, 55, was on her way home from a Christmas night out and died from her injuries two hours later.
Her son, Gus Atkinson, is one the most promising young England cricket stars in recent years.
The court heard Berouain, who played teen gang member Tayo in EastEnders and had roles in Doctors and the 9/11 mini series The Looming Tower, fled the country after being bailed by police.
He first travelled to Dubai before jetting to the US and was only found when police in Los Angeles discovered he had applied for a driving licence.
It took another four years for Berouain to be extradited to the UK following a costly, transatlantic legal battle.
The actor, who police said refused to give blood and urine samples after the crash, was jailed in September 2024 for eight-and-a-half years.
Home and Away horror
Orpheus Pledger is one of just a few Australian actors to have starred in both Home and Away and Neighbours.
He played student Noah Parkin in Neighbours in 2011, before later enjoying a three-year run as Mason Morgan in Home and Away.
Aussie soap star Orpheus Pledger was jailed for assault last year[/caption]
Pledger’s character was killed off in 2019 and he has since found himself in the headlines for other reasons.
In March last year, Pledger was arrested by Aussie cops on suspicion of assaulting a woman on two separate occasions.
He was bailed after being told he had to undergo a medical assessment but went on the run. Police caught Pledger three days later and took him back in to custody.
A court later heard he had kicked and punched his victim after she raised concerns about his mental health and drug use.
In a second incident, Pledger reportedly dragged the woman by her hair and stomped on her face.
Pledger was handed a seven-month jail sentence in August 2024 but later appealed it.
In November last year, Judge Michael Tinney agreed to spare him further jail time.
He ordered Pledger to instead complete 150 hours of unpaid community work and attend treatment for mental health issues and drug abuse.
Drug scandal
Coronation Street star Craig Charles found himself on the wrong side of the law after developing a drug addiction.
Craig, who is known for playing taxi driver Lloyd Mullaney in Corrie, previously admitted to blowing a quarter of a million pounds on crack cocaine.
Corrie’s Craig Charles received a police caution for possession of drugs[/caption]
He even described how he would ricochet around a sordid “triangle” of drugs, booze and his job on the ITV soap.
The actor said: “My flat was there, next door to a pub, and Granada [Studios] was there, and I just did that triangle. I spent £250,000 on crack.”
In 2006, Craig accepted a caution from police for possessing Class A drugs and agreed to go to rehab.
The actor was suspended from Corrie before returning as cabbie Lloyd the following year. He left Corrie in 2015.
Craig, who has been clean for years, now works as a DJ for BBC Radio 6.
Brookside fraud
Ex Brookside actor Philip Foster was jailed last month for masterminding a £13.6 million fraud that conned would-be models.
Foster, who played Christian Wright in Brookside, ran a network of sham modelling agencies for eight years.
Brookside actor Philip Foster has been jailed for leading a huge fraud scam[/caption]
Sheffield Crown Court heard that more than 6,000 victims parted with money on the false promise of securing paid modelling work.
Foster, who ran the operation from his base in Marbella, Spain, was said to have used a network of associates in England to operate agencies and photography studios across the country.
The scam was uncovered following a six-year investigation by National Trading Standards (NTS).
Last month, Foster was handed an eight-and-a-half year prison sentence for conspiracy to defraud.
Six other defendants were sentenced for conspiracy to defraud and two others were handed sentences for charges relating to money laundering.
North Yorkshire councillor Greg White said: “Foster and his fellow scammers cruelly exploited young hopefuls trying to break into one of the most competitive industries.
“In some cases, parents borrowed money or sacrificed savings believing they were investing in their children’s futures.”
Dark past
The late Leslie Grantham joined EastEnders as legendary villain Den Watts in 1985.
But off screen, he was harbouring a dark past.
EastEnders actor Leslie Grantham was convicted of murder in the 60s[/caption]
In 1966, when Leslie was a 19-year-old serving soldier in the British Army, he attempted to rob a taxi driver in Germany by threatening him at gunpoint.
In a struggle between the men, Leslie shot driver Felix Reese in the head, which killed him. He was arrested for murder.
Leslie told police he had no idea the gun was loaded and that it had only gone off because they were scuffling.
He was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in prison.
As Leslie was in the Army when convicted, he served his sentence in British prisons.
After 10 years behind bars, he was paroled in 1977 and trained to become an actor, later landing the part of Dirty Den.
However, in 2004 his career nose-dived when he was caught exposing himself and indulging in a sex act on a webcam in a dressing room.
Leslie died in June 2018 aged 71 following a period of ill health.
Nightclub attack
Bruno Langley was sacked from Coronation Street before pleading guilty to two sex attacks in a nightclub.
The actor had played Todd Grimshaw in Weatherfield for 16 years when he was given the boot.
Coronation Street Bruno Langley actor groped two women in a nightclub[/caption]
In 2017, Langley appeared before JPs and admitted to groping two women on the same night at On The Wall in Manchester City Centre.
He was also said to have molested two others at the venue, although those women never came forward to make a formal complaint.
Coronation Street bosses sacked Langley when the allegations first surfaced and he later issued a grovelling apology.
He told the Sunday Mirror: “I have no excuse, no one forced me to drink to such an extreme, but it is hard to explain why I would do anything as dreadful as that.
“It must have been awful for those women, and I am ashamed of myself. I’m truly sorry.”
The sex pest was given a 12-month community order and told he must sign the sex offenders’ register for five years. He was also ordered to pay his two victims £250 each.
