Former Manchester United footballer Patrice Evra has been given a suspended 12-month sentence after being found guilty of abandoning his family for over two years.
Evra, 43, allegedly owes €969,000 (£813,640) in unpaid alimony after abandoning Sandra Evra and their two children between May 2021 and September 2023.
The former French captain’s 12-month sentence, which was reportedly confirmed by Nanterre’s prosecutor’s office, has been suspended for two years with provisional execution.
However, he has been ordered to pay his wife €4,000 (£3,358) for moral damages and €2,000 (£1,679) for legal costs.
The prosecution confirmed Evra has appealed the decision while Jerome Boursican, his lawyer, insisted ‘the facts are disputed’ by his client.
Mr Boursican said: “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.
“A sum that she refuses to return, which is the reason for this trial.”
Evra’s representatives have not yet responded to requests for comment.
Sandra and Evra were married in 2007 and share two children, a son, Lenny, and a daughter, Maona. The former United man initiated divorce proceedings in 2020 but they remain uncompleted.
In July 2020, photos emerged of Evra kissing current partner Margaux Alexandra while he was still married to his wife. Evra and Alexandra are now engaged and have two children together.
Sandra’s lawyer Nathalie Dubois told Le Parisien: “I hope that, thanks to this decision, Patrice Evra will finally understand that he is not above the law and that you cannot abandon your wife and children overnight. “
“Even more so when they met when they were 15 and she followed him all over the world to support his football career.”
Evra, who made 379 appearances in eight years for United between 2006 and 2014, was understood to have ended the 13-year marriage after leaving the family home in Paris in 2020.
Evra and Sandra grew up together and she was reportedly heartbroken after learning of his new relationship through social media.
She told The Sun: “That was the worst day of my life. I was devastated, distraught. I have been left paying all my credit cards and the Netflix bill. It has taken me a long time to realise what he’s like… he has turned into a rat.”
Evra allegedly used his solicitor to inform Sandra he wanted the divorce.
By Will Conroy
