Ched Evans found not guilty of rape after second trial concludes

Ched Evans has been found not guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman.

The Chesterfield footballer, 27, was accused of assaulting her in a Premier Inn hotel in Wales in May 2011.

The former Welsh international was found guilty of rape in 2012 and served prison time, but the conviction was later quashed and a retrial ordered.

And today he was found not guilty of rape Cardiff Crown Court.

The jury, made up of seven women and five men, deliberated for just over two hours before reaching their verdict.

When the retrial began two weeks ago the jury were instructed by Mrs Justice Nicola Davies, the judge presiding over the trial, to disregard any previous publicity the case has had.

"There has been publicity in respect of these legal proceedings. If you have heard or read about it, that is the proceedings, in the newspaper, television, radio or social media, you must ignore it," she told them. When today's verdict was read out, the BBC reported "gasps and cries" in the public gallery "with members of Mr Evans's group, including his fiancee, Natasha Massey, breaking down". Once Evans was discharged from the dock he immediately went to embrace Miss Massey, with whom he has a child.

More follows.