Former Manchester United defender Patrice Evra has been sentenced to 12 months in prison with a two-year suspended probationary sentence by the Nanterre Criminal Court for abandoning his family, Soccernet.football reports.
According to L’Equipe, the court found Evra guilty of leaving his wife, Sandra Evra, and their children between May 2021 and September 2023. Evra has appealed the decision.
The court ordered Evra to pay 4,000 euros for moral damages and 2,000 euros for legal costs to his wife.
Nathalie Dubois, the lawyer for Sandra Evra, said, “I hope that thanks to this decision, Patrice Evra will finally understand that he is not above the law.”
She also mentioned that Evra owes 969,000 euros in alimony since July 2020.
Evra’s lawyer, Jérôme Boursican, stated that Evra disputes the charges. He claims that Evra provided for his wife by giving her an apartment and a house with a pool in the south of France.
He also lent her nearly two million euros, which she has not repaid. Boursican said, “Mr. Patrice Evra filed an appeal.”
Sandra and Patrice Evra, who are now in their early 40s, married in 2007 and have two children together. Their marriage faced issues in July 2020 when photos of Evra with Danish model Margaux Alexandra surfaced.
Divorce proceedings began that year but have not been finalized. Evra and Alexandra now have two children.
In a separate incident, Evra was fined 1,000 euros for making a homophobic remark in February 2023. He was also ordered to pay 1,500 euros in damages to two civil party associations, Mousse and Stop Homophobie, and 1,000 euros each in lawyer fees.
