There is little doubt that Mr Ched Evans, the soccer player, is not exactly a role model for our era. But as of yesterday he is also a man who served a jail sentence for a rape of which he is not guilty. Now is the time when certain folks need to think very carefully about their actions and to say sorry.
Back in early 2015 when Mr Evans emerged from jail having served his sentence, but still protesting his innocence, certain folks demanded that he not work again as a soccer player, among them Nick Clegg and David Cameron. That was, as I pointed out then, wrong. As a society we have to help those who have served time to rehabilitate and we do not do that by banning them from plying their trade. Even if they are soccer players.
But Clegg and Cameron wanted cheap votes and pandered to the mob as they demanded that Mr Evans be treated in a different way to all other criminals.
Thankfully Evans did find a club that allowed him to play, Chesterfield. Perhaps now that he has been declared innocent he will play for a bigger club. Who knows? But those who demanded that he be barred from playing at all, surely now owe this man an apology.
To say that he was a bit of a sleazebag is probably not unfair. But anyone who reads the red tops knows that, as a big name soccer player, he is far from unique in that respect. Yet people such as Nick Clegg and David Cameron did their best to ruin his life. As both of these men attend church this weekend perhaps they might consider their actions and find the time to say sorry in a very public manner.
Somehow I doubt that Clegg and Cameron will repent of their sins.
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