Fantastic Beasts’ Kevin Guthrie sex assault sentence reduced after winning appeal
Senior judges agreed Kevin Guthrie’s previous good character and the ‘devastating’ impact on his career should have been taken into account by a sheriff
Fantastic Beasts’ Kevin Guthrie sex assault sentence reduced after winning appeal
Image: Getty Images)
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Fantastic Beasts actor Kevin Guthrie has been freed from prison after he won an appeal to have his sexual assault prison term reduced from three years to two.
Senior judges agreed his previous good character and the ‘devastating’ impact on his career should have been taken into account by a sheriff.
The 34-year-old star was jailed last May after preying on a woman at a flat in Glasgow in September 2017.
Glasgow Sheriff Court was told that the assault took place at a property that fellow actor Scott Reid owned.
Meanwhile, Guthrie has maintained his innocence and denied any wrongdoing. He claimed he only ‘helped’ the woman after she fell ill.
The attack occurred in 2017
Image:
( John Phillips/Getty Images)
His sentence was reduced from three years to two years
Image:
( Spindrift)
A four-day trial took place and the actor, who starred in the Netflix series The English Game, was found guilty and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
Attorney Ian Duguid QC successfully insisted that the three-year sentence given to Guthrie was too long, to which judges Lord Carloway, Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews agreed.
Guthrie was released from custody immediately as he has already served the equivalent of a two-year term.
The judges believe he has a low risk of re-offending.
He claimed he was ‘helping’ out the woman
Image:
( UGC)
Kevin denied the sexual assault charge but his DNA was found on the inside of her underwear.
The attack occurred between September 30 and October 1 2017.
The woman recalled Scott being absent from the room and then bed covers “being moved down” her body.
Judges said the sentence would have a ‘devastating impact’ on his career
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And now, after the judges agreed to reduce his sentence, Lord Carloway said: “Although it was recognised by the appellant that a custodial sentence was appropriate, it was submitted that the sheriff had attributed insufficient weight to the appellant’s previous exemplary character, his charity work and the devastating effect which the conviction would have on his career.
“The court agrees with that submission. The crime committed was a serious one. It is an inexplicable one when set against the appellant’s background.
“Most important, the appellant’s conviction is likely to end, at least for the foreseeable future, the successful career which he has worked hard to achieve.
“In these circumstances, the court will quash the sentence of three years and substitute one of two years imprisonment.”
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