Ex-Man Utd star Patrice Evra sentenced 12 months for family abandonment

The 43-year-old former Manchester United defender and French national team captain, Patrice Evra, has been handed a suspended 12-month prison sentence after being found guilty of abandoning his wife and two children.

The Nanterre prosecutor’s office confirmed the verdict, as reported by Le Parisien.

The court ruled that Evra abandoned Sandra Evra and their children from May 1, 2021, to September 28, 2023. He is alleged to owe €969,000 (£813,640) in unpaid alimony. The sentence is suspended for two years with provisional execution, and Evra has been ordered to pay €4,000 (£3,358) for moral damages and €2,000 (£1,679) for legal costs.

Evra’s lawyer, Jerome Boursican, stated that his client has appealed 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,” Boursican said.

He added, “A sum that she refuses to return, which is the reason for this trial.”

Sandra Evra’s lawyer, Nathalie Dubois, commented on the verdict stating, “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.”

The couple, who married in 2007 and have two children together, began divorce proceedings in 2020, which remain unresolved. In July 2020, Evra was seen kissing Danish model Margaux Alexandra, his current fiancée, with whom he now has two children.

Sandra Evra, speaking to The Sun, described the day she learned of Evra’s new relationship as “the worst day of my life.”

She added, “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, who played 379 times for Manchester United between 2006 and 2014, has not yet responded to requests for comment on the court’s decision.