09 January 2024 , 12:17
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Calum Best is being tried today in Spain over an alleged sex assault with the threat of a three-year prison sentence hanging over his head.
The reality TV icon and only son of football legend George Best has been summoned to court following an arrest at a famous Ibiza beach club. Spanish state prosecutors have demanded the maximum sentence - three years jail - if the three trial judges convict him as charged.
The 42-year-old, now the chairman of Dorking Wanderers FC’s women’s team, is denying any wrongdoing and is expected to protest his innocence when he takes the stand. Calum, who won Celebrity Love Island in 2006 with Bianca Gascoigne and has starred in two series of Celebrity Big Brother, was held in April 2022 over an incident at the O Beach Club which was never made public at the time.
Calum Best was seen arriving to court today (Joan Llado / GTres / SplashNews.com)
The reality TV star is being tried in Spain (PA)The famous beach club in the Ibizan party resort of San Antonio. Calum was allowed to leave the holiday island after a day in custody while a criminal probe which resulted in his prosecution and today’s trial continued.
His alleged sex crime happened on the evening of April 22 2022 according to a pre-trial indictment drafted by Spanish state prosecutors. The two-page indictment accuses Best, born in San Jose in California, of kissing a female tourist he had argued with moments earlier over photos she had taken before “grabbing her hand and putting it on his privates, under his trousers, while he told her ‘Feel This.’”
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Prosecutors say both actions were motivated by his aim of “satisfying his sexual desire.” His female accuser, a British holidaymaker who was at the beach club with friends, is said to have removed her hand immediately and left the venue in a state of “shock and confusion.”
She has been called to give evidence at Calum’s trial and is expected to testify via videoconference. He has been charged with a crime of sexual assault under Spanish law, which is punishable by between one and three years in prison. As well as the maximum jail sentence possible, Spanish state prosecutors want him served with a restraining order preventing him from going within 100 metres of the woman he is accused of targeting and trying to contact her for five years.
He is being tried over an alleged sex assault (Joan Llado / GTres / SplashNews.com)They also want him banned from working with minors for eight years if he is convicted as charged. His fate will be decided by three professional judges rather than a jury as jurors are not used for sex crime trials in Spain. The trial is expected to start and finish today.
The reality TV star, an active campaigner for the Her Game Two campaign which aims to tackle sexism and champion women’s football, took a volunteer chairman position in August 2021 at Dorking Wanderers after being approached by owner and friend Marc White.
He told the BBC last year after getting involved with Dorking Wanderers FC’s women’s team: "I'd never even thought of being involved in football like this before. But, I thought there was the opportunity to do something positive for women's football. And, of course, I quite liked the title.” He also confirmed the team had been filming a BBC series titled "Squad Goals: Dorking 'Til I Die" - but said he took the role before any television was involved.
George Best passed away in 2005 aged 59 as a result of alcohol addiction - meaning Calum was raised by his mother Angie Best.
He 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. He revealed afterwards he had had help from the series’ ousted chief instructor Ant Middleton.