Ched Evans claims razor blade was slipped into jail cell by inmate

Footballer recalls time in prison and says he will never apologise directly to his accuser

Ched Evans has been found not guilty of raping a 19-year-old woman in 2011 (Getty)

Ched Evans has claimed a razor blade was slipped into his cell by a fellow inmate while he was serving a five-year sentence for rape, an offence he was then cleared of last week.

The former Chesterfield striker served two-and-a-half years of his prison sentence after being found guilty of raping a woman at a Premier Inn in Rhuddlan, Denbighshire, in 2011.

His conviction was quashed in April and on Friday, after just two hours of deliberation, a jury at Cardiff Crown Court found him not guilty of rape.

Evans, 27, maintained his innocence throughout both trials and has since given an interview to the Mail on Sunday where he has said he can “never apologise directly” to his accuser.

“I thought it was to protect myself. It was only later I realised it was so I could cut my own wrist,“ he told the Mail on Sunday.

”It was living with some of the most disgusting people in the country and having to have the label, that was difficult.

“They put me on the vulnerable prisoners’ wing due to the fact they said if I was to be anywhere else I might get stabbed because of the profile of the case and the crime that I was in for.”

Evans described each day he was imprisoned as a “nightmare” and claims he was told completing a sex offenders course would give him an “easier” life behind bars: “more money, more clothes, a PlayStation”.

In a rare and widely condemned move, the jury heard accounts of his accuser's sexual preferences from two of her former partners.

In the trial, Evans said he walked into the room where fellow footballer Clayton McDonald was having sex with the woman and had consensual sex with her after asking her if he could join in.

Prosecutors alleged the complainant was too drunk to consent to sex and awoke hours later confused and alone in the room.