Footballer cleared from rape charges after five years
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Footballer Ched Evans has been found not guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman in a hotel room.
The Chesterfield striker was accused of attacking her at a Premier Inn in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, on 30 May 2011.
Mr Evans, 27, was originally found guilty of rape at Caernarfon Crown Court in 2012, but this conviction was quashed in April.
He was found not guilty of the same charge at Cardiff Crown Court on Friday.
In a statement read out on Mr Evans's behalf after the verdict, the footballer said: "In the early hours of 30 May 2011, an incident occurred in north Wales that was to change my life and the lives of others forever. That incident did not involve the commission of a criminal offence and today I am overwhelmed with relief that the jury agreed.
"I would like to thank my legal team... for their tireless efforts upon my behalf.
"Thanks go, too, to my friends and family; most notably my fiancee, Natasha, who chose, perhaps incredibly, to support me in my darkest hour.
"Whilst my innocence has now been established, I wish to make it clear that I wholeheartedly apologise to anyone who might have been affected by the events of the night in question.
The appeal was allowed after judges gave the go-ahead for two former sexual partners of the complainant to give explicit evidence in court about her sex life, a rare move that has been widely condemned by women’s support groups and campaigners.
One group, Women Against Rape (WAR), told the Guardian the decision “drove a coach and horses” through legislation designed to protect victims and could stop other abused women coming forward for fear they would be quizzed about their sex lives.
It can now be revealed that:
During the appeal case that led to the retrial, lawyers for the crown suggested the two new witnesses may have been “fed” information by those close to Evans. This claim was rejected by Evans’s side.
Evans’s fiancee, Massey, was accused in legal argument during the second trial of offering an “inducement” to a key witness. The prosecution said this had “the flavour of a bribe”. The trial judge disagreed with this description. A spokesman for Evans and Massey said: “The judge was very clear. No further comments will be made.”
The appeal court judges, whose decision can be reported for the first time, expressed “a considerable degree of hesitation” before allowing in the new evidence of the former partners because it resulted in the complainant’s sexual behaviour being subject to forensic scrutiny – which is almost always banned.
The complainant continues to be named and abused on social media though the law gives her lifelong anonymity. The police are investigating one blog that identified her during the trial.
The woman told the jury she woke up naked in a hotel room in Rhyl, north Wales, in May 2011 with no memory of what had happened but fearing she had been attacked after her drinks were spiked.
The woman told the jury she woke up naked in a hotel room in Rhyl, north Wales, in May 2011 with no memory of what had happened but fearing she had been attacked after her drinks were spiked.
