Ched Evans: 'I have no hatred towards my accuser, I feel sorry for her'

Ched Evans, who was cleared of rape following a retrial, said he does not harbour any ill will towards the woman involved in the case and has hit out at people abusing her online.

The Wales intenational and Chesterfield striker, who fought to clear his name after being convicted in April 2012, said that he had "mixed emotions" towards the woman but did not feel angry.

In his first interview since a jury found him not guilty on Friday, he told the Sunday Times (£): "I'd be lying if i said I feel some hatred towards her. I don't. It would probably be more correct to say I feel sorry for her because of what she has been put through. I didn't ask people on the internet to abuse her. I didn't condone that. I don't condone that."

The Chesterfield striker was originally convicted of raping the 19-year-old woman in a Premier Inn near Rhyl, North Wales, in May 2011.

He admitted to having sex with the teenager in a threesome with his footballer friend Clayton McDonald, cheating on his girlfriend Natasha Massey in the process.

Prosecutors claimed that the complainant was "hysterical" after waking up confused, naked and alone in the budget hotel and that she was too intoxicated to give consent.

But Evans always insisted it had been consensual, saying that the young woman had agreed for him to "join in" after he walked into the room disturbing McDonald and her having sex at 4am.

He added: "The fact is I cannot say she has ever accused me of rape. She hasn't. She went to the police believing her bag had been stolen. When me and Clayton got arrested we told the truth straight away and still to this day five years on she has never claimed that she had been raped.

"My belief is that it got put to her that she had been raped by two footballers."

He stressed that he "disassociated" himself from anyone who names the woman, which is illegal under the Sexual Offences Act 2003.

In a statement on his website, he said: "I want to stress that I absolutely disassociate myself from anyone who names on any forum the woman in this case. Or makes any offensive comments about her.

"Everyone associated with the past five years now has the right to move on with their lives and I wish no ill will to anybody."

Describing his fiancee Miss Massey as his "rock" for standing by him throughout the ordeal, he said that his decision to fight to clear his name for his family including his nine-month-old son.

"This has never been about me as a footballer but as a person, a human being. A father who wants to take his son to the park knowing that no o ne can look at me and say 'he's a rapist'," he said.

Evans' family had employed private investigators to gather new evidence, with a £50,000 reward offered for information to help his case.

At the retrial, jurors heard new evidence from two men who had previously had sex with the complainant giving accounts of the woman's sexual preferences.

A complainant's sexual history is not usually put before a jury in trials but was allowed under Section 41 of the Youth Justice and Criminal Evidence Act.

Police and crime commissioner for Northumbria and former solicitor general, Vera Baird, criticised the court's decision.

Speaking to Radio 4's Today programme, she said: "The only difference between a clear conviction of Mr Evans in 2012 and the absolute refusal of him having any leave to appeal at that time, and his acquittal now, is that he has called some men to throw discredit on (the woman's) sexual reputation.

"That, I think, is pouring prejudice, which is exactly what used to happen before the law in 1999 stopped the admission of previous sexual history in order to show consent.

"We've gone back, I'm afraid, probably about 30 years."

After the original trial, Evans served half of a five-year prison sentence before being released in October 2014 but there was a public outcry when he attempted to return to professional football.