Former Barnsley and FC Halifax Town forward looking to get career back on track after wrongful conviction

Tuton, now 32, was arrested by police investigating an incident at Sheffield railway station dating back to 2021. In March 2023, at Barnsley Magistrates Court, he was found guilty of outraging public decency.

He was given a 12-month community order and told to pay £250 compensation. Tuton’s time at Whitby Town came to an end after the guilty verdict. However, his conviction was overturned on appeal.

The well-travelled frontman is currently playing for boyhood club Handsworth, although is keen to climb to the highest level he can in the years he has remaining.

Speaking to the BBC, he said: "It's taken up so many years of my life already, now I want to use these last years I've got to try and play at the highest level I can and try and enjoy something I love.”

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Mobile phone and training records were produced in the appeal process, while his former manager and an ex-teammate gave evidence.

He said: "When they said I was not guilty I froze. It took for me to look at my friends and my family, and they were hugging... that's when it hit, I'd finally after all this time got this massive weight off my shoulders.”

Tuton has spoken candidly of the struggles he endured in the aftermath of his conviction. The story had been reported in the national press and his reputation had been tarnished.

He said: "It was horrible. I used to sit in my bedroom and just cry. I’ve played football since I was six. It was never a job for me. It was my place of freedom and it was just taken away."

Tuton has spent the bulk of his career in the non-league pyramid, but has represented both Barnsley and Grimsby Town in the EFL. He made seven appearances for the Reds and amassed 12 for the Mariners.