Sunshine on Leith star Kevin Guthrie has been released from prison after the actor won an appeal against his three-year sentence for sexual assault.
The 34-year-old actor was sentenced to three years in prison last May for harassing a woman whose name could not be named for legal reasons in an apartment in the western part of Glasgow in September 2017.
The Glasgow Sheriff’s Court heard the attack took place on a property belonging to fellow actor Scott Reed, who became famous as Methadone Mick in the BBC’s favorite comedy Scotland Still Game.
Guthrie’s lawyers failed to overturn his sentence on Wednesday after a hearing at the Edinburgh Criminal Court of Appeal.
But defense attorney Ian Duguid QC successfully argued that the sentence imposed on Guthrie was too long given the circumstances of the crime.
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Mr Duguid told the judges, Lord Carloway, Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews, that people in positions like Guthrie had received shorter sentences.
The appeals judges agreed and reduced Guthrie’s sentence from three to two years.
The decision led to Guthrie’s release immediately, as he had already served the equivalent of two years in prison.
Lord Carloway told the lawyers in the case that the court would give its reasons for reducing Guthrie’s sentence in an opinion sometime in the near future.
During the Glasgow sheriff’s trial, Guthrie denied wrongdoing and said he “helped” the woman only after she fell ill.
However, the jury was told that his DNA was found in her underwear.
The 29-year-old was scheduled to meet the men at a Glasgow bar, but Mr Reed received a call from a taxi driver picking her up as she looked ill.
He and Guthrie helped the woman into the Calvindale apartment in Glasgow and put her to bed.
The court heard Mr. Reed call NHS 24 and leave Guthrie in the room “to make sure he was okay.”
The woman told the court, “I remember my top was lifted and my bra was held down.”
She was touched by Guthrie before he had sex with her.
Guthrie performed two more sexual acts and kissed her on the mouth.
The court heard that he would stop when Mr. Reed entered the room.
Guthrie, who also starred in Fantastic Beasts and the Netflix English Game series, was found guilty after a four-day trial and placed on the sex offender register indefinitely.
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Sheriff Tom Hughes put Guthrie on the register of sex offenders indefinitely, telling him: “The court must show that women can be protected from domestic sexual crimes.”
He added: “The crime you have been convicted of has caused suffering and consequences for the young woman involved in this case.
She was ill and thought that her drink had been drunk elsewhere that evening.
“The jury found that you had committed these heinous crimes and that the only appropriate sentence was imprisonment.
On Thursday, Guthrie watched the trial via video link from Dumfries Prison.
Mr Duguid told the court that Mr Guthrie had suffered from “misrepresentation” during his initial trial and that his sentence should be overturned.
He added: “The case was not handled properly. There were failures in this case. “
The appeals judges refused to overturn Guthrie’s sentence, but agreed with the defense’s argument that the sentence was too long.
A decision explaining why Guthrie’s sentence will be published in the near future.
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