Former footballer Patrice Evra has been slapped with a suspended 12-month jail sentence after being found guilty of abandoning his family for over two years.
It’s alleged Evra owes €969,000 (£813,640) in unpaid alimony after abandoning his wife, Sandra Evra, and their two children between May 1, 2021 and September 28, 2023.
According to French publication , Evra’s sentence was confirmed by the Nanterre prosecutor’s office, situated in the western suburbs of .
While the the 12-month punishment has been suspended for two years with provisional execution, the ex-United and France left-back has been ordered to pay his wife a total of €6,000 for moral damages and legal costs.
Evra – a five-time Premier League winner at Old Trafford – has lodged an appeal against the decision.
‘Mr Patrice Evra filed an appeal, knowing that he provided his wife with an apartment, a house with a swimming pool in the south of France and that he lent her almost two million euros for her daily life,’ Evra’s lawyer, Jerome Boursican said.
‘That is a sum that she refuses to return, which is the reason for this trial.’
Nathalie Dubois, Sandra Evra’s barrister, said she hoped that the punishment proved to the former French international that he is ‘not above the law’.
‘I hope that, thanks to this decision, Patrice Evra will finally understand that he is not above the law and that we cannot abandon our wife and children overnight,’ she said.
‘Even more so when they met at the age of 15 and she followed him all over the world to support his football career.’
Patrice and Sandra Evra brought their 25-year relationship to an end in 2020 and the 2008 Champions League winner is now engaged to Danish model Margaux Alexandra.
The couple had their first child together in Copenhagen in May 2021 and Evra spoke of his pride at the time, calling Alexandra his ‘rock’ and ‘universe’.
‘I can’t describe how proud I am of Margaux,’ the former full-back said.
‘You were powerful not because you weren’t scared but because you went on so strongly despite your fear. You’re my rock, my universe.’
Evra has worked in various punditry roles since bringing his playing days to an end at West Ham in 2018, providing analysis for Sky Sports, ITV, beIN SPORTS among others.
The Senegal-born defender started his professional career with Italian outfit Marsala and played for Monza, Nice and Monaco before completing a £5.5million move to Manchester United to play under Sir Alex Ferguson in 2006.
At international level, Evra – widely regarded as one of the finest left-backs of his generation – was capped 81 times by France.
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