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Ched Evans of Chesterfield
Ched Evans, 28, spent two and a half years in jail after being found guilty of rape in 2012. Photograph: Ker Robertson/Getty Images
Ched Evans, 28, spent two and a half years in jail after being found guilty of rape in 2012. Photograph: Ker Robertson/Getty Images

Ched Evans: 10 men cautioned for revealing identity of accuser

This article is more than 6 years old

Police take action after woman who accused footballer of rape was named on social media

Ten men have been cautioned by police after revealing the identity of the woman who accused the footballer Ched Evans of rape.

The Chesterfield striker, who is set to rejoin Sheffield United, was acquitted in a retrial last year of raping a 19-year-old in a hotel room in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, in 2011.

His accuser is entitled to lifelong anonymity under the the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 1992, and Supt Jason Devonport of North Wales police said publishing her name was a serious offence.

After an investigation into the woman’s name being published on social media, police cautioned a group of men aged between 16 and 23 from Sheffield, Derbyshire and Birmingham.

Devonport said: “This type of offence is fortunately rare. However, I’d like to emphasise all police forces take offences of this nature very seriously. We will vigorously pursue and prosecute those who don’t respect victims’ anonymity.”

Evans, 28, spent two and a half years in jail after being found guilty of rape in 2012. The conviction was quashed by the court of appeal in London in April 2016. A retrial jury at Cardiff crown court six months later took two hours to find him not guilty.

By the time Evans was jailed in April 2012, his alleged victim had been named thousands of times. The woman left her home town and changed her identity.

In November 2012, nine people pleaded guilty at Prestatyn magistrates court in north Wales to publishing material likely to lead members of the public to identify the complainant. Six were from north Wales, including Ched Evans’ cousin, Gemma Thomas, and three from Sheffield. One had tweeted: “She is to blame for her own downfall. Let’s find her address.”

The nine claimed they were not aware naming the woman was a criminal offence and were each ordered to pay £624 compensation.

Evans signed for Chesterfield last June, two months after his conviction was quashed but before his retrial. This week it was reported that Sheffield United were set to re-sign the player, who played for the club from 2009-12.

Gwendolyn Sterk, the public affairs manager at Welsh Women’s Aid, said it was vital that the law entitling people who report rape to anonymity was upheld, to ensure such people had confidence that the criminal justice system would protect them.

“Rape is already hugely under-reported,” she said. “The criminal act of naming the woman in this case on social media will further undermine the confidence of survivors of rape and sexual assault to report it.

“Breaches of lifelong anonymity for those who report rape have immense impacts on survivors’ lives, leading to further trauma and revictimisation. Such offences need to be taken seriously and the response to these crimes needs to be proportionate to the impact they have on survivors.”

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