Ched: I can never say sorry

CLEARED footballer Ched Evans said yesterday it will be “impossible” for him to say sorry to the woman who accused him of rape.

In a controversial interview, the former Welsh international – who was cleared of rape at a retrial last week – said he would be unable to apologise directly for his behaviour.

He explained: “I have maintained my innocence from day one, so I can never apologise directly for what happened.”

His words came as the father of the accuser said he was “sickened” at the acquittal, arguing that it had been wrong that evidence from two former lovers of his daughter had been deemed admissible at the retrial.

“It was like she was the one on trial – not the person accused of committing the crime,” he said.

But in his interview with a Sunday paper, Evans, 27, defended the controversial decision to allow details of the complainant’s sex life to feature in his retrial.

He claimed his case was “exceptional” and justified the rare step that saw the inclusion of new evidence from two previous lovers.

Evans spent two and a half years in prison after being convicted in 2012 of raping a drunken 19-yearold waitress in Rhyl, north Wales, who prosecutors said was too intoxicated to have consented.

The striker’s family hired private investigators to gather new evidence, offering a £50,000 reward for information that helped to clear his name.

In March the Court of Appeal overturned his conviction, ordered he be retried and, under scarcely-used rape trial rules, two of her former lovers then took the stand for his defence.

Justice for Women’s Julie Bindel said the case of Evans, who now plays for Chesterfield, had set rape victims’ fight for justice back by 30 years “at least”.