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Roxanne Pallett’s soap star ex breaks silence as punch drama rages on

Richard Fleeshman's comment was backed by thousands

Former Coronation Street star Richard Fleeshman has posted a telling message on Twitter amidst the Celebrity Big Brother ‘punch’ furore.

Richard is an ex-colleague of Ryan Thomas… and also the ex-boyfriend of Roxanne Pallett.

On Thursday Roxanne accused fellow housemate Ryan of punching her in the ribs like a boxer, branding him a ‘woman beater’.

Ryan had been – what he believed to be – play fighting. He was issued with a formal warning from Big Brother.

Roxanne and Richard on a night out in 2006 (Credit: Wenn)

The incident sparked over 11,000 complaints from viewers to Ofcom, many calling for Roxanne to be removed from the house, claiming she was making a mockery of real abuse.

First thing Saturday morning, Celebrity Big Brother released a statement to say that Roxanne had decided to leave the show; no further details have yet been given.

On Friday night, Richard, who was seeing Roxanne between 2001 and 2007, wrote – while the reality show was on air: “Here’s the thing… you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”

His comment – a well-known saying – was liked by in excess of 2300 people in the space of 12 hours.

The 29-year-old West End star also liked a tweet from Emmerdale star Charley Webb, who wrote:  “Watching Big Brother for the first time in years. Wow, just wow. #dangerous”

And one from Corrie actress Hayley Tamadon. She wrote: “I’ve known @ryanjamesthomas quite a few years. He is genuinely one the kindest, warmest, funniest, happiest fellas I’ve met.

“And I’ve never come across a single person that doesn’t think the same. We love you Ry!”

Richard’s actress mum, Sue Jenkins, showed her support for Ryan by sharing a post from Corrie star Sally Ann Matthews, and saying:

“One of the nicest men on the planet!’ and she used the hashtag ‘would not harm a fly’.

Was it right for Roxanne to leave Celebrity Big Brother?  Leave us a comment on our Facebook page @EntertainmentDailyFix and let us know what you think!