Kasabian have issued a statement following today’s sentencing of former frontman Tom Meighan for assault charges.

The Leicester band announced yesterday (July 6) that Meighan would be stepping down as frontman “by mutual consent” in order to “concentrate all his energies on getting his life back on track”.

Today (July 7), the singer appeared at Leicester Magistrates Court to face a charge of assault against his former partner Vikki Ager. Meighan pleaded guilty and was subsequently sentenced to 200 hours of unpaid work.

Kasabian have this evening posted a follow-up statement on Twitter. “Now that the legal proceedings have been concluded, we can comment on the departure of Tom Meighan from the band,” they wrote.

“No one in the band wanted this to happen. We have all worked so hard for the past twenty three years and had big plans for our future together. We’re completely heartbroken.

Now that the legal proceedings have been concluded, we can comment on the departure of Tom Meighan from the band. Full statement below. Kasabian x pic.twitter.com/vP7Y61sxQA

— KasabianHQ (@KasabianHQ) July 7, 2020

“But we were left with no choice but to ask Tom to leave the band. There is absolutely no way we can condone his assault conviction. Domestic violence and abuse of any kind is totally unacceptable.

“As soon as we found out about the charges made against Tom, we as a band made the decision that we could no longer work with him. Unfortunately we had to hold back this information until he was found guilty in court.”

The group then addressed a separate statement made by Meighan yesterday regarding his departure from the band, in which he thanked fans for their love and support, stated that he was now “in a really good place” and would “be seeing you all very soon”.

Following today's announcement I just wanted to let you all know that I am doing well. I'm in a really good place now. Thanks for all your love and support. I'll be seeing you all very soon. TM x #TomMeighan #Kasabian

— Tom Meighan (@MeighanOfficial) July 6, 2020

The band have now responded: “We were led to believe that Tom would hold his hands up in his statement and tell everyone what he’d done but he chose not to, misleading a lot of fans.

“Ultimately, as much as Tom has hurt us all, we’re not the victim in all of this. Domestic violence is something that can never be excused.”

Kasabian concluded the message by thanking their fans for their “support at this difficult time”, adding: “See you all soon.”

At today’s court hearing, it was said that Meighan “smelt heavily of intoxicants” during the incident on April 9. Having witnessed the assault, a child called the emergency services to say a “domestic incident was taking place”.

Prosecutor Naeem Valli said police described Ms Ager as “visibly upset” while Meighan was “un-cooperative and aggressive”.

Yesterday (July 6), NME published a blog relating to Tom Meighan’s departure from Kasabian. This was written before we were aware of the assault charges made against him. As soon as we were made aware, the offending article was removed from our website.

If you’ve been affected by domestic abuse you can contact Refuge’s freephone National Domestic Abuse Helpline on 0808 2000 247. You can also donate to Refuge here.