Description
Sunshine on Leith actor Kevin Guthrie has been freed from prison after he won an appeal to cut his three-year sentence for sexual assault.
The 34-year-old actor was jailed last May for an attack on a woman at a flat in Glasgow's west end.
But while his sentence was reduced to two years, Guthrie failed in a bid to quash his conviction at the Court of Criminal Appeal in Edinburgh.
A judgement explaining the decision will be published in due course.
Defence advocate Ian Duguid QC successfully argued that the sentence imposed on Guthrie was too lengthy given the circumstances of the offence.
Mr Duguid told judges Lord Carloway, Lord Pentland and Lord Matthews that people in similar positions to the actor were given shorter custodial sentences.
Mr Duguid told the court that the actor suffered from "defective representation" during his initial trial and should have his conviction quashed.
He added: "The case was not handled properly. There were failures in the case."
The appeal judges agreed and reduced Guthrie's sentence from three years to two.
The decision resulted in Guthrie being released from custody immediately as he had already served the equivalent of a two-year prison term.
Guthrie had watched the appeal proceedings via videolink from Dumfries Prison.
Forensic evidence
During his trial last year, Guthrie had denied the charge and told Glasgow Sheriff Court he had only "helped" the woman after she fell ill.
However, the jury was told that his DNA was found inside her underwear.
Guthrie, who also starred in the Fantastic Beasts films and Netflix series The English Game, was found guilty after a four-day trial and placed on the sex offenders register indefinitely.
The attack happened at the flat of Scott Reid - a fellow actor, best known as Methadone Mick in BBC's Still Game - on 30 September 2017.
The 29-year-old woman had been due to meet the men at a bar in Glasgow but Mr Reid received a call from a taxi driver to collect her as she appeared ill.
He and Guthrie helped the woman into the flat in Glasgow's Kelvindale and put her on a bed.
The court heard Mr Reid called NHS 24 and left Guthrie in the room "to make sure she was OK".
The woman told the court: "I remember my top being lifted up and my bra being held down."
She was groped by Guthrie before he performed a sex act on her.
Guthrie carried out a further two sexual acts and kissed her on the mouth.
The court heard he would stop when Mr Reid came into the room.