REALITY TV star Calum Best has been spared a nightmare prison sentence after being cleared of sexually assaulting a British holidaymaker at Wayne Lineker’s Ibiza beach club.
Judges ruled prosecutors had not done enough to prove legendary footballer George Best’s celeb son forced the tourist’s hand down his shorts and onto his penis.
Spanish state prosecutors wanted him jailed for three years if convicted.
And the 42-year-old had been told he could face an agonising three-month wait before learning his fate following his one-day trial at a court in the Majorcan capital Palma last Tuesday.
But the three trial judges announced their decision yesterday just eight days after Calum insisted from the dock he had done nothing wrong and said he was in Majorca to “clear his name.”
They ruled his female accuser’s court testimony alone was not enough to destroy the presumption of innocence they must adhere to.
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And in a damning incident of the Spanish state prosecution case they questioned why crucial witnesses like the woman’s friend had not been called to give evidence and back up her version of events.
Californian-born Calum, now based in the UK and the current chairman of Dorking Wanderers FC women’s team, did not immediately respond to the acquittal yesterday.
But his defence lawyer Jaime Campaner, who gave his client the good news moments after the verdict was announced, said: “I am very satisfied with the result.”
Calum’s female accuser had told the Audiencia Provincial court in Palma last Tuesday she was left in “shock and tears” after Calum told her: “I’ve got something for you, close your eyes” and forced her right hand down his trousers.
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She said the incident happened on April 22 2022 when she followed him to a smoking area at Wayne Lineker’s O Beach club in the Ibizan resort of San Antonio to apologise for a previous “misunderstanding” over a video a friend took that Calum had appeared in.
The unnamed British holidaymaker recalled: “I remember crying and having a panic attack and going to speak to the security guard immediately afterwards.”
Best, arrested soon afterwards and held in custody for around a day, declined to be cross-examined in court but told his own lawyer he was in “absolute shock” when he found out about the accusation.
He went on to link it to the amount of alcohol the complainant confessed to drinking beforehand.
In their acquittal decision, the judges highlighted the lack of “external corroboration” of the tourist’s version of events, confirming the CCTV images available had not offered information backing her claims.
They said in their six-page written ruling: “There is no other information from external sources of evidence that supports the complainant’s testimony, and the court finds it relevant that her friend, who was with her in the initial moments of the first contact with the accused and is said to have accompanied her to see a security guard, did not appear at trial.
“The security guard has not been cited as a witness either.
“The friend was identified in the police report and the security guard would have been easily identifiable.
“When evidence is available that could have been used to support a testimony and it is not used in court without justifying the impossibility of doing so, a situation of objective doubt is created.”
They concluded: “In this case, the prosecution’s evidence has not been sufficient to undermine the right to the presumption of innocence.”
Calum Best spent most of his childhood in Los Angeles where he became a model in his mid-teens.
In 2022 he appeared in and jointly won the fourth series of Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins.
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He revealed afterwards he had had help from the series’ ousted chief instructor Ant Middleton.
How you can get help
Women’s Aid has this advice for victims and their families:
- Always keep your phone nearby.
- Get in touch with charities for help, including the Women’s Aid live chat helpline and services such as SupportLine.
- If you are in danger, call 999.
- Familiarise yourself with the Silent Solution, reporting abuse without speaking down the phone, instead dialing “55”.
- Always keep some money on you, including change for a pay phone or bus fare.
- If you suspect your partner is about to attack you, try to go to a lower-risk area of the house – for example, where there is a way out and access to a telephone.
- Avoid the kitchen and garage, where there are likely to be knives or other weapons. Avoid rooms where you might become trapped, such as the bathroom, or where you might be shut into a cupboard or other small space.
If you are a victim of domestic abuse, SupportLine is open Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6pm to 8pm on 01708 765200. The charity’s email support service is open weekdays and weekends during the crisis – messageinfo@supportline.org.uk.
Women’s Aid provides a live chat service – available weekdays from 8am-6pm and weekends 10am-6pm.
You can also call the freephone 24-hour National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247.
