Smears, ‘bribes’ and private eyes part of £500,000 bid to discredit teen ‘victim’ who accused football star Ched Evans of rape
CHED Evans secured his “not guilty” verdict after his family spent £500,000 smearing his alleged victim’s sex history.
The ex-Wales striker, 27, dragged the teenage waitress through a five-year ordeal in which she was repeatedly identified and abused online.
And it emerged that Evans’ fiancee Natasha Massey, 27, posted a £50,000 “bribe” for evidence which could help clear him on a website set up to support his case.
He also spent hundreds of thousands on fees for barristers to argue that highly personal evidence about the 19-year-old’s private sexual history could be used to gain an appeal.
Lawyers for the prosecution even suggested two new star witnesses, who did not give evidence at Evans’ first trial, may have been “fed” information by the footballer’s supporters. The two men denied this.
THE LAW
THE alleged victim was quizzed about her sex history, a move that is rarely allowed.
Since 1999, lawyers in rape cases have had to apply to special judges for permission.
And permission is only granted if it is deemed absolutely necessary.
Top lawyer Charles Sherrard QC said: “It’s a very powerful tool and should be used carefully and sparingly.”
The Chesterfield star’s future father-in-law Karl Massey, a multi-millionaire jeweller, hired private investigators including a retired senior police officer to delve into the woman’s past.
They produced a case file from at least 14 men and women who knew the alleged victim.
And in an unusual move, criticised by women’s groups, High Court judges allowed Evans to appeal using evidence of the woman’s similar sexual encounters with others.
Two unnamed men revealed how she “directed” sex and used the phrase “f*** me harder”, which Evans claims he heard during sex with her.
The law puts strict rules on what evidence can be heard about a victim’s past sexual behaviour.
But campaigners said that “clever lawyers” could get round it.
Evans was originally found guilty of rape in May 2011. He was jailed for five years in 2012.
While in prison, beauty therapist Natasha contacted a key witness — the hotel receptionist — and dangled the £50,000 sum in front of him for “anything that could help Ched” in a series of Facebook messages.
Prosecutor Simon Medland QC said the “subtle and repeated” sum was “akin to a bribe”.
But the jury at Evans’ retrial was not told about the Facebook messages after the judge ruled them inadmissible. Evans was freed after serving half his sentence and was welcomed home with a lavish party. He then sacked his legal team and employed expensive new barristers to make a second appeal.
Evans was granted his appeal and his conviction was quashed.
It meant his alleged victim was forced back to court for a second two-week trial.
The prosecution claimed the teenager was too drunk to consent after a night out with girlfriends in Rhyl, North Wales.
The woman believed she has been spiked and was visibly drunk when she fell over in a kebab shop before getting in a cab with Evans’ pal Clayton McDonald and being driven to the Premier Inn.
The court heard ex-Port Vale player McDonald texted Evans saying “I’ve got a girl” shortly before he turned up and joined in a threesome in Room 14. He told the jury McDonald was having sex with her when he walked in.
He claimed the pair looked at him and McDonald asked the woman: “Can my mate join in?” Evans said the woman replied: “Yes.” He gave her oral sex before having full sex with her but claimed he did not ejaculate.
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He told the jury at his first trial: “The situation I was in became real. I was cheating on my girlfriend. I had not been thinking about that before.
“I can only describe it as being caught up in the moment.
“I was in the room with a girl, it was more real that I was actually cheating on my girlfriend.
“I pulled away. She grabbed the quilt and pulled it over herself and huffed. I started getting dressed.” Evans, who admitted he did not say a word to the woman during sex, later left through the fire escape.
A jury took just two hours to unanimously clear him of rape yesterday. Lady Justice Nicola Davies said: “Mr Evans, you are discharged,” before he walked to the public gallery and broke down in tears with Natasha.
Outside Cardiff crown court, he said: “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.
“Thanks go, too, to my friends and family, most notably my fiancee Natasha, who chose, perhaps incredibly, to support me in my darkest hour.
“In the early hours of May 30 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.” Evans then returned to the court before leaving in a taxi.
His legal costs have spiralled close to over £500,000.
The Crown Prosecution Service said it respected the jury’s decision and thanked the complainant for her “courage” in giving evidence.
Ed Beltrami, Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS Wales, said: “This case hinged on the issue of sexual consent.
“Being drunk does not mean a person relinquishes their right to consent, that they are to blame for being attacked or that they were ‘fair game’.
“The prosecution argued that the complainant did not have the capacity to consent, but the jury found they could not be sure, beyond reasonable doubt, that the complainant did not consent, or that Evans thought she was not consenting.”