The star, who plays Ken Barlow in the long-running soap, made the original remarks in a television interview, during which he said famous men can be "caught in this trap" by young female fans who follow their movements.

Speaking to New Zealand's TVNZ, he said of the victims: "If you accept that you are pure love ... and therefore live that pure love, these things won't happen to you."

He was then pressed by reporter Garth Bray, who asked: "To some people that sounds perhaps like you're saying victims bring things on themselves. Is that what you're saying?"

The 80-year-old replied: "No, not quite, but then yes I am. Everything that happens to us is the result of what we have been in previous lives."

He went on to say that famous men shouldn't be judged for getting "caught in the trap" of sleeping with under-age girls and, when discussing paedophiles, added that we should be "totally forgiving" whether they are guilty or not.