Calum Best has been cleared of sexually assaulting a British tourist at Ibiza beach club after appearing in court last week.
The reality TV icon and son of legendary footballer George Best was facing a prison sentence of up to three years if convicted.
He appeared for a one-day trial last Tuesday at the Audiencia Provincial Court in the Majorcan capital Palma. But he learned today he had been cleared of any wrongdoing.
The three trial judges’ decision to acquit him is understood to have been unanimous.
The judges said it was clear the reality TV star and the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her had offered ‘contradictory versions’ of what had happened the night of April 22, 2022.
But they insisted they did not have the ‘firm conviction’ Calum had committed the crime he was accused of after hearing and seeing the evidence against him and therefore his ‘right to innocence’ must prevail.
They added: ‘The accuser admitted she had consumed alcoholic beverages before arriving at the club (around five cocktails and four or five other alcoholic drinks and a shot)…which is a factor that could influence the perception of events you report.’
The judges insisted the ‘contradictions’ Calum’s defence lawyer raised at trial in his female accuser’s statement to police and the courts immediately after his arrest and her evidence at his trial were not ‘relevant’ and said she had largely maintained the same account of the night’s events.
But they said their main issue was with the lack of ‘external corroboration’ of her version of what happened, adding: ‘The only other evidence brought by the prosecution in this respect has come from the venue’s CCTV cameras which were partially viewed during the trial.
‘This court has seen the footage in its totality and has not obtained from them information to support her testimony with the certainty required by law with regards to the right to presumption of innocence.’
They confirmed the unnamed British holidaymaker and Calum were out of sight of the cameras for 19 seconds but said what they viewed after they appeared again on CCTV did not appear to be ‘compatible’ with the accuser’s claim she went to look for her friend to tell her she had been sexually assaulted.
The judges added: ‘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.’
She told the court he sexually assaulted her by putting her hands down his shorts and onto his penis after telling her: ‘I’ve got something for you, close your eyes.’
She also claimed a security guard told her when she raised the alarm at O Beach club in the Ibizan party resort of San Antonio: ‘He asked if he was one of Wayne Lineker’s friends and when I said ‘yes’ he laughed, said this happens all the time and told me he wasn’t going to call police.’
Calum was arrested and held in custody for around a day late on April 22, 2022, after leaving the beach club following a toast for friend Wayne Lineker’s 60th birthday.
Best’s defence lawyer, Jaime Campaner told the judges at his trial they should acquit his client after Best took the defence to stand to insist he had done nothing wrong and had travelled to the island ‘to clear his name.’
