Coronation Street's James Craven confirmed his exit from the ITV soap after his character, Aaron Sandford, came to terms with the fact he sexually assaulted Amy Barlow.
In emotional scenes, Aaron told Amy he intended on dropping the libel case after learning her family were looking to sell everything they owned to fund the case and support the teenager.
The Barlow family's faith in Amy frighted Aaron but despite Coronation Street viewers watching the mechanic come to terms with his actions, he still failed to confess to raping Amy.
Speaking about his exit from the Weatherfield-based soap, Aaron star James said the conclusion to the storyline wasn't the "closure [Amy] deserves".
He said: "She knows that he knows what he's done is wrong, even though he never quite admits it, and the fact that he does sort of runaway highlights that.
"But I think for Amy it was just so overwhelming because whilst it's not necessarily the closure that she wanted, in some respects it's possibly as much closure as she needed. Although definitely not the closure she deserves."
James went on to admit he had initially hoped the storyline would end differently.
"I think I was always hoping that he would admit it or have some sort of admittance," the actor continued. "I liked that there wasn’t anything particularly overly dramatic about it.
"And I think unfortunately that is quite realistic because there are so many of these cases in real life where people don't face justice and people aren't prosecuted for it.
"So I think whilst that's obviously quite a hard thing to come to terms with for Amy, it is sadly quite realistic. I never wanted him to get away with it but I think it's one of those things that he's now got to live with it, knowing what he's done."
The Coronation Street explained he found leaving the ITV soap "very sad" but teased fans that he has a "couple of things...coming out" in the future.
"It's been a lot of fun and I’ve really, really loved my time there. I met so many great people and I've made so many good friends for life. But I'm excited, I'm really, really excited to get on and go on and do other things," he added.
If you've been the victim of sexual assault, you can access help and resources via www.rapecrisis.org.uk or calling the national telephone helpline on 0808 802 9999
