Ched Evans 'raped woman too drunk to consent' court hears

Footballer Ched Evans raped a woman who was too intoxicated to consent in a hotel room before leaving through a fire escape door, a court has heard.

The 27-year-old striker, who now plays for League One side Chesterfield, is facing a retrial over allegations he attacked the complainant in May 2011.

Evans was previously found guilty of rape but this conviction was later quashed by the Court of Appeal, Cardiff Crown Court was told.

Former Manchester City and Sheffield United player Evans denies the single charge of rape against him.

On the first day of the retrial, a jury of seven women and five men were told the attack took place in a room at the Premier Inn near Rhyl, north Wales.

The victim, who cannot be named, arrived at the hotel with a man called Clayton McDonald, who had been out drinking and socialising with Evans.

Simon Medland QC, prosecuting, said Mr McDonald phoned Evans from a taxi in the early hours of the following morning to tell him: "I've got a girl."

Evans is said to have arrived at the hotel room about 15 minutes later. Both men separately had sex with the victim, it is alleged.

McDonald was later acquitted of raping the woman, while Evans was convicted of the offence, following the trial at Caernarfon Crown Court in 2012.

"There is no room for concluding that the complainant could have consented to sex with this defendant," Mr Medland told the jury.

"We submit that the evidence will show that the only connection between Ched Evans and the complainant was once he was in the hotel room with the 'girl' which McDonald had 'got'.

"Did he have sex with her whilst McDonald was himself present? Was this what the complainant was consenting to?

"We submit that she was that intoxicated that she didn't really know what on earth was happening....and that she was raped by this young footballer, not that she had consensual sex with him."

Evans denies rape and the trial, expected to last for two weeks, continues.