Ched Evans, Clayton McDonald rape trial: Jury retires to consider verdicts

Ched Evans (left) and Clayton McDonald at Caernarfon Crown Court

The jury has retired to consider its verdicts on two footballers accused of raping a teenager.

Wales and Sheffield United striker Ched Evans and Port Vale defender Clayton McDonald deny raping a 19-year-old woman at a hotel near Rhyl, Denbighshire.

The prosecution at Caernarfon Crown Court say she was too drunk to consent.

Summing up, Judge Merfyn Hughes QC said there was no stereotype for an alleged rapist and victim.

"You need to reach a conclusion on what was the complainant's state of intoxication," he told jurors on Thursday.

"Was she just disinhibited or had what she'd taken removed her capacity to exercise a choice?"

Mr Evans, originally from St Asaph, Denbighshire, and now of Penistone, South Yorkshire, and Mr McDonald, of Crewe, Cheshire, admit having sex with the woman on 30 May, 2011 but say it was consensual.

The court previously heard that the woman - now aged 20 - told police she woke up naked and confused in a double bed following the alleged rape.

'On the lookout'

She added that she had no memory of travelling to the Premier Inn and feared her drinks were spiked.

John Philpotts, prosecuting, has told the court that Mr Evans had booked a room "with the main or sole purpose of procuring a girl or girls that night"

He said the defendants "were on the lookout for any girl who was a suitable target and the claimant had literally stumbled across their path."

But David Fish QC, for Mr Evans, said: "Even if it's a genuine loss of memory it doesn't mean necessarily she didn't consent at the time."

Lloyd Morgan, defending Mr McDonald told the jury in his closing speech: "When you have a look at the evidence this grand conspiracy theory just doesn't add up."