Calum Best could wait three months for verdict over Ibiza 'sex assault' claim
Calum Best could have to wait three months to learn his fate after being tried over an alleged sex assault at Wayne Lineker’s Ibiza club.
Spanish prosecutors said a three-year jail sentence was the right punishment for the reality TV icon if he is found guilty. Calum is the only son of legendary footballer George Best and was photographed at his one-day trial in Majorca on Tuesday. The 42-year-old’s defence lawyer Jaime Campaner told the three trial judges they should acquit him after Calum took the defence stand to insist he had done nothing wrong and had travelled to the island “to clear his name".
Today, well-placed sources said the judges could announce their verdict and sentence if they convict him in around three weeks, with that being the "best-case scenario". But it could take nearly five times longer in a "worst-case" one. One said: “Spanish law puts the time limit at 30 days but that cut off point often gets extended and it’s accepted because of the workload judges face. There are of course instances when the decision comes back quicker but that’s not normal. The time frame I think we’re looking at is between 20 days and three months. It’s dependent on how much other work the judges have got on.”
Calum Best could wait three months for verdict over Ibiza 'sex assault' claim (Instagram)Calum's alleged victim, a British holidaymaker, 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." He was arrested and held in custody for around a day after the alleged incident on April 22, 2022, at O Beach club following a toast for friend Wayne Lineker’s 60th birthday.
Calum’s female accuser said she agreed to a kiss with the 2006 Celebrity Love Island winner, who has also starred in two series of Celebrity Big Brother, but insisted his subsequent actions were unwanted. She also claimed a security guard told her when she raised the alarm at the 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.”
Kelly Brook is all smiles in resurfaced Celebrity Love Island images
California-born Calum, the current chairman of Dorking Wanderers FC women’s team, denied her claims that he got angry and had a prior altercation with the woman over photos or videos taken of him without his consent.
Recalling the moment police approached him on the San Antonio seafront around half an hour after he left the club and he was taken to a nearby station, he said: “They told me why they were there and I contested it many, many times. I was in absolute shock.”
Asked by his lawyer why he thought his accuser had reported him, he linked it to the amount of booze - an estimated 10 alcoholic drinks plus shots - she had consumed beforehand. While his wait for a decision continues Calum will remain a free man and will not be subject to any restrictions including travel restrictions.
The three trial judges, a man and two women, will deliver their decision in writing. There was no jury. Best can appeal if he is found guilty and Spanish state prosecutors will also be able to appeal if he is acquitted. As well as the maximum jail sentence of three years, state prosecutor Miguel Tous also confirmed on Tuesday he wanted Calum to be 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 also said he should be banned from working with minors for eight years if he is convicted as charged. Yesterday it was reported Calum’s media firm Trouble to Triumph Limited has gone bust owing £85,000 to the taxman. The company was set up in 2015 when he made his first Celebrity Big Brother appearance. In 2022 Calum was declared the joint winner of SAS: Who Dares Wins.
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
