Calum Best cleared of sexually assaulting woman at Ibiza beach club
Calum Best has been cleared of sexually assaulting a British tourist at Wayne Lineker’s Ibiza beach club.
The reality TV icon and son of legendary footballer George Best was facing a prison sentence of up to three years if convicted. He had been warned he may have to wait up to three months for the verdict following his one-day trial last Tuesday at the Audiencia Provincial Court in the Majorcan capital Palma. But today he learned he had been cleared of any wrongdoing.
The three trial judges’ decision to acquit him is understood to have been unanimous. It was not immediately clear today if Spanish state prosecutors would be appealing. Prosecutor Miguel Tous called for Calum, 42, to be jailed for three years if convicted at the end of his trial.
He also said he wanted the 2006 Celebrity Love Island winner, who has also starred in two series of Celebrity Big Brother, to be served with a restraining order preventing him from going within 100 metres of the woman he was accused of targeting and trying to contact her for five years.
Reality TV star Calum Best has been cleared of an alleged sex assault at an Ibiza beach club (Joan Llado / GTres / SplashNews.com)The female British tourist gave evidence via video-link from the UK at Calum’s trial. 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."
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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’s 60th birthday. Calum’s defence lawyer Jaime Campaner told the judges at his trial they should acquit his client after he took the defence stand to insist he had done nothing wrong and had travelled to the island “to clear his name".
California-born Calum, the current chairman of Dorking Wanderers FC women’s team, denied his female accuser’s claims 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 San Antonio seafront around half an hour after he left the club and 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 Mr Campaner why he thought his accuser had raised the alarm, Calum, whose famous dad died in 2005 aged 59 as a result of alcohol addiction, said: “I have thought about this a lot and the only things I can come up with are two. One was that she had already asked me a couple of times for pictures and I wasn’t maybe reciprocating the same energy.
“But the main thing is that I know people get very drunk at the O Beach club and I don’t think she would have made the allegations she did if she hadn’t been drinking heavily.” His defence lawyer said the ten alcoholic drinks plus shots his female accuser had confessed to drinking that day was reason enough to treat her testimony with caution.
He highlighted what he described as “contradictions” in evidence she gave police and what she told the court at Calum's trial, saying before the judges retired to consider their verdict: “A panic attack and tears suddenly appear in January 2024.” He also flagged up the fact state prosecutors had stated in their pre-trial indictment that Calum had told his alleged victim "feel this" as he drew her hand towards his penis but his accuser had not used that expression in her court evidence.
The state prosecutor, telling the court a three-year prison sentence was the right punishment for Calum if convicted, insisted in his brief closing speech at the end of Calum's trial: “For the prosecution the way the sexual assault happened has been proven here today in a clear and resounding manner.”
He said evidence an acquaintance of Calum gave on his behalf, claiming he had spent all night bar 20 or 30 seconds with the reality TV star and “seen nothing," had been “prepared by the defendant”. Offered a final address to the court, Calum said: “Thank you for your time and thank you for listening to my testimony.” He left the court a free man while judges considered their verdict.
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