Ched Evans Court of Appeal date set for March 22

Former Sheffield United striker Ched Evans is set to have his conviction for raping a 19-year-old woman reviewed by the Court of Appeal in London on March 22.

Evans, 27, was jailed in April 2012 after being found guilty of the rape at a hotel in Rhyl, north Wales, on May 29, 2011. He was released from prison in 2014 after serving half of a five-year sentence .

The case has been referred by to the Court of Appeal by the Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC, which investigates possible miscarriages of justice and announced last October that new evidence had emerged in the case.

In a statement released following the announcement last year, CCRC chair Richard Foster said: “The decision of the commission is not a judgment on guilt or innocence in relation to Ched Evans, nor is it a judgment about the honesty or integrity of the victim or any other person involved in the case.

“Our role is to consider applications to see if, in our judgment, there is any basis on which to ask the court to hear a fresh appeal – that is our statutory responsibility. In this case we have identified new material which was not considered by the jury at trial and which in our view might have assisted the defence.

“In those circumstances, it is right and proper for the matter to be before the court so that they can decide whether or not the new information should affect the verdict in this case.”