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Mitigating in court, the Corrie actors lawyer has offered a confusing reason as to why he committed the crimes.

Bruno Langley's lawyer Simon Hancock has said it was the stress if playing a gay character that led to the assaults on October 1.

Hancock said: "It was completely out of character. Something happened that night, most possibly in relation to the character he was playing.

"These two offences happened within one evening but are linked to alcohol. The result was despicable behaviour."

Back in 2003, Langley's Corrie character Todd Grimshaw became the soap's first openly gay character.

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The storyline was initially met with a mixed response, with many viewers convinced the decision to make Todd gay was a ploy for higher ratings.

However, others praised the producers for bringing the show into the 21 century.

The character of Todd has been the subject of several complaints, all to do with same-sex kisses.

Ofcom rejected the complaints.

A friend of Langely also told The Sun: "Bruno played a high-profile gay character for 16 years. People often think he's gay in real-life.

"He sometimes feels he needs to act more of a lad than he is to stop assumptions about his sexuality."

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Naturally, people are not happy with the reasons given for the assault comments since the reports surfaced, with one Twitter user kicking off: "Hey Bruno Langley! Did Jim Parsons or Neil Patrick Harris go and sexually assault men because of the 'stress' of playing a straight character?... No! They didn't, so you can f**k right off with that bulls**t!"

Another hit out: "Bruno Langley said that the fact he plays a gay character means he acts more laddish on a night out?!

"Like wtf kind of excuse is that? Corrie were right to sack him immediately."

It was announced before the verdict that Langley would be leaving the soap, with his final scenes airing on December 24.

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He was sentenced to a 12 month community order, placed on a sex offenders' register for five years and ordered to pay both his victims £250 each.

The judge said: "On that evening your conduct was quite disgraceful and degrading. Both of the victims would have been extremely shocked and upset as a result of your conduct.

"The fact that you were heavily intoxicated is not mitigation, it is a further aggravating feature.

"You have lost your good name and I know nothing of showbusiness but I imagine in the current climate I suspect it may be very difficult for you to gain employment in that industry in the future."