R v Evans

Background

On 30 May 2011, Wales international and Sheffield United player Ched Evans and another person were arrested on suspicion of the sexual assault of a woman in Rhyl, Denbighshire, following an incident at a Premier Inn in Rhuddlan on the same day. On 26 July 2011, Evans and another professional footballer, Clayton McDonald, were charged with rape, which they both denied.

Preliminary hearings

On 8 August 2011, McDonald and Ched Evans appeared before Prestatyn Magistrates' Court charged with rape. The defendants were released on bail and did not comment on the matter, but McDonald told Port Vale's website that he "strongly refute[d]" the allegation. Evans also issued a statement on Sheffield United's website stating that he "strenuously denie[d] the charge". McDonald and Evans entered pleas of not guilty at the Crown Court at Caernarfon on 14 October, and were remanded on bail.

Trial

The trial took place at the Crown Court at Caernarfon in April 2012. The woman, a 19-year-old waitress, said she had drunk two glasses of wine, four double vodkas with lemonade, and a shot of sambuca. As a result, she told police she "felt tipsy but not out of control". However, she woke up naked and confused in a hotel bed with no memory of anything since leaving a dancing session with friends the previous night. She suspected that her memory loss was due to a spiked drink. Samples taken the following day showed no alcohol, although the prosecution argued this was due to normal elimination over time. The samples did show traces of cocaine and cannabis, which she denied taking on the night of the incident. The prosecution argument was that the woman was too intoxicated to have consented.

The defence agreed that McDonald met the woman on the street and took her back to the hotel, where they were later joined by Evans. However, they claimed that both men had sex with the woman separately and with her consent. They argued she was not too drunk to consent, and suggested that her claim of memory loss may be a lie.

On 20 April 2012, the jury returned its verdicts. McDonald was acquitted. Evans was convicted of rape and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Judge Merfyn Hughes QC stated in his sentencing remarks that: "The complainant was 19 years of age and was extremely intoxicated. CCTV footage shows, in my view, the extent of her intoxication when she stumbled into your friend. As the jury have found, she was in no condition to have sexual intercourse. When you arrived at the hotel, you must have realised that."

Appeals

On 24 April 2012, it was announced that Evans was seeking the leave of the Court of Appeal to appeal against his conviction. On 20 August 2012, leave to appeal was refused by a single judge of the Court of Appeal, and on 6 November 2012, a three-judge panel agreed with the refusal.

In November 2013, it was revealed that Evans had recruited a new legal team headed by ex-senior detective Russ Whitfield and appeals lawyer David Emanuel. In July 2014, he launched another appeal attempt via the Criminal Cases Review Commission.

Evans was released from prison on 17 October 2014. Shortly afterwards, the Criminal Cases Review Commission announced that they were prioritising their review of his conviction. In October 2015, the CCRC, based on "new material which was not considered by the jury at trial", decided to refer the case to the Court of Appeal, which obliges the court to reconsider his conviction.

The appeal was heard on 22 and 23 March 2016, and the outcome was announced on 21 April. Evans's conviction was quashed, and the court ordered a retrial. In order to avoid prejudicing the retrial, it prohibited the publication of details of the appeal until the retrial was complete.

Retrial

Evans' retrial began on 4 October 2016 at Cardiff Crown Court. The main new evidence included was from other men who had had consensual sex with the woman, who testified that her sexual behaviour was similar to that which Evans described. Details of a complainant's sexual history are not usually admissible, but there is an exception for evidence which is "so similar [to the defence's account] that the similarity cannot reasonably be explained as a coincidence". The prosecution accused the witnesses of having received this information from Evans' defence campaign, and being motivated by the £50,000 reward offered for information leading to his acquittal.

On 14 October, following 2 hours of deliberation, the jury of 7 women and 5 men returned a verdict of not guilty.

Naming of complainant on the internet

North Wales Police investigated claims that the woman had been named and subjected to abuse on Twitter after the trial. Former Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer of Thoroton, Holly Dustin, the director of End Violence Against Women, and Secretary of State for the Home Department Theresa May warned of the risks posed by discussing court cases on social media websites, and reiterated the need to protect the anonymity of complainants in cases concerning sexual offences. As of 6 October 2012, North Wales Police had arrested 23 people on suspicion of offences relating to the naming of the complainant. Police also investigated a mistake by Sky News which showed the name of the complainant on television.

Sheffield United academy and reserve team player Connor Brown was suspended by his club after allegedly making offensive comments about the woman on Twitter, although he did not give her name.

On 5 November 2012, nine people who had named the complainant on Twitter and Facebook, including a cousin of Evans, were each told to pay her £624 after admitting the offence at Prestatyn magistrates' court. A tenth person pleaded not guilty, but later changed her plea to guilty on 21 January 2013.

In October 2014, after Evans' release from prison, it was reported that the complainant's new identity had illegally been revealed on Twitter and blogs again, having had to change her identity due to having been named previously on social media.

The complainant continued to be identified online during Evans' retrial in 2016.