Partner of player cleared of rape opens her heart about ordeal My Ched is a big softie. Everyone who knows him can see why I stood by him

THE loyal fiancée of footballer Ched Evans has explained for the first time why she stood by him throughout his battle against a rape conviction.

Natasha Massey, known as Tash, never believed the former Sheffield United star was capable of rape – but admitted she nearly dumped him for cheating.

Despite her faith in his innocence, she has had to put up with people winding down car windows and shouting, “You f***** mug, staying with a rapist.”

Speaking after Evans was finally cleared last week, Natasha, 28, said: “He couldn’t. I mean the people who think Ched is a rapist haven’t met him.

Trust

“He’s a big softie. Everyone who knows Ched can see why I’ve stood by him. It’s people who don’t know Ched that have got this opinion of him. My friends have said they don’t understand why they’re writing these things.

“He’s a family person, he always puts everyone else first and he’s kind.”

But she was still angry with Evans, 27, who always admitted having sex with his accuser but insisted it was consensual.

Natasha said: “It wasn’t the rape allegation. It was personal. It was the fact Ched had cheated on me, he’d ruined the trust that we had. I trusted him with my life.”

Evans was originally found guilty and jailed for five years after a trial at Caernarfon crown court in April 2012.

But in April this year his conviction was overturned by the Court of Appeal and a retrial was ordered. The new jury found him not guilty of raping the woman, then 19, in a hotel room in Rhuddlan, North Wales, in May 2011.

The court heard that Evans and fellow footballer Clayton McDonald had sex with the woman at the same time.

Natasha, a director at her wealthy dad’s jewellery business near her home in Alderley Edge, Cheshire, recalled how she reacted when he first told her he had cheated on her and had been charged with rape.

“I threw up,” she said. “I was so shocked I was physically sick. I couldn’t stop crying and shaking. I’d been going to spend the rest of my life with this guy and immediately I said, ‘I’m not going to be with him now.’”

But after she had time to think, Natasha changed her mind. She said: “I know he can be an idiot and he behaved appallingly, no doubt about that.

Horrible

“But rape? No. He hasn’t got it in him. I hated what he’d done, but I still loved him. I texted horrible things to him. I wanted to punish him, I wanted him to suffer. After a week I called him and said, ‘ Right, you b******, I want to hear every minging detail.’ ” Natasha told the Daily Telegraph how one of the hardest things to bear was when it was revealed in evidence that Evans gave the girl oral sex. She said: “It was the day before the verdict and after being so supportive to him – that is such an intimate thing. We were in the bedroom and I started crying. “I said, ‘I can’t believe you did THAT.’” The couple, who have a nine-month-old baby son called Flynn, now plan t o get married.

Asked if she could trust Evans after what he had done, Natasha said: “Oh my God, he’ll never look at another woman again! I have no concerns about that, he’s petrified.

“Bad lesson, but he’ll never go near anyone ever again.”

Evans played for his latest club Chesterfield yesterday – the first time he has taken to the field since before his retrial.

The League One side lost 3- 0 to leaders Scunthorpe but his appearance pleased fans because there had been rumours he had been injured.

Evans was pictured before the kick-off smiling and laughing and putting his thumbs up as he posed for pictures with youngsters.