Timeline of rape allegations against Ched Evans

Footballer Ched Evans has been found not guilty of rape following a two-week retrial.

The Wales international and Chesterfield striker fought a five year battle to clear his name, after he was found guilty of rape in April 2012.

The 27-year-old served half of a five-year prison sentence before being released in October 2014.

Here is a timeline of how events unfolded:

  • May 30, 2011 - Evans and his friend, footballer Clayton McDonald, have sex with a woman at a Premier Inn, near Rhyl, North Wales.

  • May 31 - Evans, then a Sheffield United striker, and McDonald, who was playing for Port Vale, are both arrested. They are later charged.

  • April 20, 2012 - Evans is convicted of raping a 19-year-old woman and sentenced to five years in prison following a trial at Caernarfon Crown Court. Co-accused McDonald is found not guilty.

  • May 30 - Evans, who has been capped 13 times by Wales, is released by Sheffield United at the end of the football season.

  • November 6 - The Court of Appeal refuses him leave to appeal his conviction or reduce the length of his sentence.

  • October 17, 2014 - Evans is released from prison after serving half of his sentence.

  • November 11 - Sheffield United faces a public backlash after saying it would let him train with them, an offer it later withdrew. TV presenter and club patron Charlie Webster quits and Olympic champion Jessica Ennis-Hill demands her name be taken off the Bramall Lane stand in protest.

  • January 8 2015 - Oldham Athletic pulls out of a deal to sign Evans following another public backlash.

  • October 5, 2015- Evans's case is referred to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Case Review Commission on the basis of new information after a 10-month investigation.

  • April 21, 2016 - Evans wins appeal against conviction and is granted unconditional bail. The footballer faces a re-trial at Cardiff Crown Court.

  • June 20 - The footballer signs a one year contract with League One side Chesterfield FC.

  • July 23 - He scores in his first game in four years during a 3-0 pre-season friendly win for his new club against Ilkeston.

  • October 4 - Evans's rape retrial begins at Cardiff Crown Court.

  • October 14 - The footballer is cleared after a two-week retrial. The jury deliberated for three hours.